THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 
MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


THE 


ROCKS 


DEER  CREEK, 


H/RFORD  COUNTY,  M/RYLAND. 


THEIR  LEGENDS  AND  HISTORY. 


BY 

THOMAS  TURNER  WYSONG, 

OF 

"  SHIRLEY,  NEAR  THE  KOCKS." 


TWO     ILLUSTRATIONS. 


BALTIMORE: 
PRINTED  BY  A.   J.   CONLON, 

No.  23  SOUTH  STREET. 


1880 


Entered,  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1880, 

BY  THOMAS  TURNER  WYSONG, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 


TO  MY  FRIENDS 

OF 

MARYLAND  AND  OF  THE  DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA, 

OF  PENNSYLVANIA,  AND  OF  VIRGINIA  AS 

IT  WAS  TERRITORIALLY  AT  THE 

DATE  OF  MY  BIRTH, 

MAY  20,  1817, 

THIS  BOOK  OF 


Is  AFFECTIONATELY  INSCRIBED  BY 

THE  AUTHOR. 


M363111 


INTRODUCTION. 


MY  residence  is  about  a  mile,  as  the  bird  flies,  from 
the  celebrated  Rocks  of  Deer  Creek.  I  first  saw  this 
great  natural  curiosity  in  the  Spring  of  1844.  I  was 
then  young,  and  did  not  dream  that  my  advanced  years 
would  be  passed  almost  under  its  shadows.  But  He 
who  appoints  the  bounds  of  our  habitations  has  so 
ordered.  To-day  I  occupy  the  place  which  I  have 
named,  for  peculiar  reasons,  "  Shirley,  near  the  Kocks." 

Since  I  have  lived  in  this  locality  I  have  been  ob- 
servant of  much  apparent  interest  in  the  Rocks,  and 
have  read  numerous  compositions,  both  in  prose  and 
poetry,  descriptive  of  them.  These  were  generally  the 
essays  of  the  young,  inspired  by  the  beauties  and  sub- 
limities of  the  scenes  around  them.  Of  the  objects 
seen,  none  have  excited  more  interest  than  the  King 
and  Queen  Seats.  Who  made  them  ? — for  what  pur- 
pose were  they  used  ? — have  been  frequent  enquiries. 
These  interrogatories  suggested  the  writing  of  "The 
Last  King  and  Queen  of  the  Rocks  of  Deer  Creek." 
Having  done  so  for  the  instruction  and  entertainment 
of  the  young  people  especially,  it  occurred  to  me  that  a 
series  of  sketches,  mingling  fact  with  fancy,  might  give 
them  pleasure,  and,  perhaps,  be  of  some  profit  to  them. 
These  I  have  written,  and  they  are  to  be  found  in  this 
small  and  unpretentious  volume. 


6  INTRODUCTION. 

I  hope  that  the  character  of  these  compositions  will 
give  offence  to  no  one,  not  even  the  most  conscientious. 
They  are,  indeed,  the  interweaving  of  fact  with  fancy, 
but  the  facts  are  more  numerous  than  one  would  imag- 
ine who  has  not  studied  the  locality  and  its  history  as 
I  have  done.  Add  to  these  facts  the  laws,  customs  and 
usages  of  the  original  inhabitants  of  the  country,  re- 
ferred to  in  these  stories,  and  the  amount  of  absolute 
fiction  is  not  great.  My  apology  for  the  presence  of  fic- 
tion at  all  is,  that  it  is,  as  I  use  it,  a  mirror — a  reflection 
of  the  truth.  Nature  responds  to  imagination,  and 
imagination  is  the  handmaid  of  Nature.  Shakespeare 
is  read  by  all,  not  because  his  characters  and  scenes  are 
not  fictitious,  but  rather  because  his  imaginings  mirror 
the  truths  of  Nature.  That  sublimest  creation  of  poetic 
genius,  the  Book  of  Job,  the  Divine  inspiration  of  which 
is  not  doubted,  is  a  sacred  drama,  the  persons  of  which, 
though  they  may  not  have  had  existence  in  fact,  are 
nevertheless  real,  because  they  are  truthful.  Paradise 
Lost  and  the  Pilgrim's  Progress  are  both  creations  of 
fancy,  but  not  therefore  pernicious.  If  strict,  literal 
fact  is  alone  to  be  tolerated,  then  all  bo'oks  embellished 
with  the  colors  of  imagination  must  be  discarded, 
though  imagination  be  the  medium  for  the  conveyance 
of  truth. 

I  am  the  more  solicitous  that  the  facts  and  truthful 
fancies  of  this  book  shall  be  read,  because  of  the  changes 
that  will  be  wrought  by  the  improvements  now  in  prog- 
ress and  promised  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Rocks.  The 
iron  horse  will  soon  be  running  along  our  streams  and 
through  our  valleys,  the  srnoke  of  the  locomotive  will 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

curl  its  wreaths  about  the  summits  of  the  Rocks,  par- 
tially hiding  them  from  view.  The  substitution  of  the 
realities  of  the  commercial  and  business  life  for  the 
poetries  of  undisturbed  Nature  is  inevitable. 

THE  AUTHOR. 


INTRODUCTION  TO  SECOND  EDITION. 


THE  favor  with  which  the  first  edition  of  one  thou- 
sand copies  of  "  THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK  ;  THEIR 
LEGENDS  AND  HISTORY,"  has  been  received,  encour- 
ages the  issue  of  a  second  edition  indefinitely  large. 
The  sale  of  so  many  copies  in  so  brief  a  space  of  time 
shows  that  the  interest  is  in  the  Rocks  as  a  natural 
curiosity  of  great  attraction ;  and  this  fact  is  a  compli- 
ment to  the  intelligence  and  taste  of  the  many  who 
have  purchased  and  read  the  book.  Of  the  hundreds 
who  were  courteously  solicited  to  patronize  this  home 
production,  scarce  a  half-dozen  lacked  courtesy  in  their 
refusal  to  do  so,  and  charity  believes  that  the  majority 
of  this  insignificant  number  were  prompted  by  no  un- 
worthy motives.  Occasionally  there  is  found  in  the 
forests  a  rare  bird,  in  the  waters  a  rare  fish,  in  the  fields 
a  rare  beast;  why,  therefore,  should  it  be  thought  a 
strange  thing  when  there  is  found  occasionally  among 
those  animals  who,  as  has  been  scientifically  determined, 
possess  the  qualities  and  characteristics  of  all  the  infe- 
rior animals,  one  to  whom  the  presentation  of  a  book 
constitutes  a  grave  offence.  Some  members  of  the 
genus  homo — the  microcosm — never  read  a  book,  not 
because  they  have  no  knowledge  of  letters,  but  because 
all  letters  are  offensive  to  them. 


10  INTRODUCTION   TO   SECOND   EDITION. 

Care  has  been  taken  in  making  up  the  present  edi- 
tion to  avoid  as  much  as  possible  the  defects  and 
blemishes  of  the  first.  Both  grammatical  and  typo- 
graphical errors  exist  in  the  former,  and  fortunate  it 
will  be  if  none  shall  be  found  in  the  latter.  The  effort 
to  secure  perfection  of  form  will  be  appreciated,  and 
the  failure  to  do  so  will  be  forgiven  by  all  generous 
readers. 

This  book  is  larger ;  other  legends  have  been  added ; 
the  facts  and  incidents  are  more  numerous.  It  is  large 
enough.  We  launch  our  boat,  which,  though  not 

4 ' as  goodly  and  strong  and  staunch 

As  ever  weathered  a  wintiy  sea," 

will  nevertheless,  we  hope, 

" sail  securely,  and  safely  reach 

The  Fortunate  Isles,  on  whose  shining  beach 
The  sights  we  see,  and  the  sounds  we  hear, 
Will  be  those  of  joy,  and  not  of  fear." 

THE  AUTHOR. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 
Title 1 

Dedication 3 

Introduction 5 

Introduction  to  Second  Edition 9 

Description  of  the  Rocks 13 

Razuka ;  a  Legend  of  Rock  Ridge  Lake . 15 

The  Last  King  and  Queen  of  the  Rocks  of  Deer  Creek 22 

The  Last  Indian  of  Deer  Creek 28 

The  Hermit  of  the  Otter  Rock 33 

The  Robber's  Den ;  or,  The  Learned  Philologist 41 

The  Enchantress  of  Hunting  Ridge 46 

The  Aged  Trapper,  Hunter  and  Fisherman  of  the  Indian 

Cupboard 51 

The  Mine  Old  Fields ;  or,  The  Gathering  of  the  Witches... ,  58 

The  Falling  Branch ;  or,  The  Captured  Bride 64 

The  Eagle 71 

The  Witch  Rabbit 72 

The  Big  Snake..* 73 

Whitsuntide 74 

The  Perilous  Feat 75 

An  Act  of  Vandalism 76 

Canal  and  Railroad 77 

The  Original  Moonshiner 79 

The  Monuments  of  the  Giants 81 

The  Field  of  Darts 84 

The  Chrome  Pits 86 

The  Slate  Quarries 7 87 

The  Horse  Epidemic  and  the  Guinea- Man's  Pony 89 

The  Church  of  the  Rocks. .  .  92 


12  CONTENTS. 

PAGB. 

Mike' s  Rock  94 

The  Ancient  Mill  and  the  Honest  Miller 95 

The  Oldest  Inhabitant '. 98 

The  Youngest  Inhabitants 100 

The  Original  Inhabitants 101 

The  Massacre  of  the  Mingoes 103 

Rocks  Literature 105 

Introduction  thereto ,106 

Selections  therefrom,  in  Prose  and  Poetry 107 

a.  Description  of  the  Rocks  in  Prose 107 

b.  Stanzas  on  King  and  Queen  Seats 107 

c.  Description  of  the  Rocks  in  Poetry 108 

d.  The  Fern... 109 

e.  The  Old  MiU 112 

A  Prophecy .116 

Mason  and  Dixon's  Line 122 

A  Literary  Curiosity 123 

ILLUSTRA  TIONS. 

The  Rocks  of  Deer  Creek Front  of  Title. 

The  Falling  Branch Page  64 


THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  ROCKS. 

THE  Rocks  of  Deer  Creek  are  in  Harford  County, 
Maryland,  distant  nine  miles  north-east  of  Bel  Air, 
the  county  seat,  and  seven  miles  south  of  the 
boundary  line  between  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania. 
The  waters  of  Deer  Creek,  forcing  their  way  at  an 
indefinite  time  past  through  Rock  Ridge,  have  left 
on  either  side  an  immense  pile  of  massive  rocks, 
three  hundred  and  eighty-five  feet  in  height,  which, 
with  the  plunging  waters  of  the  romantic  river 
which  runs  at  their  base  and  the  contiguous  scenes, 
constitute  a  rare  picture  of  sublimity  and  beauty. 
The  western  rocks  are  more  accessible,  and  of  great- 
er attraction  to  visitors.  The  view  from  them  is 
less  obstructed  and  more  distant,  embracing  within 
its  range  hill  and  dale,  forest  and  field,  river  and 
brook,  farm-house  and  hamlet.  On  them  are  the 
King  and  Queen  Seats.  To  the  verge  of  their  pre- 
cipice was  driven,  by  a  madman,  Bold  Hector,  that 
noble  horse,  which  was  as  deserving  of  a  monu- 
ment as  was  Bucephalus,  the  war  horse  of  Alexan- 
der. At  their  base  the  Eagle  was  killed,  and  also 
the  last  wolf  and  the  last  deer.  These,  with  other 
historical  incidents,  increase  the  interest  felt  in  the 
Rocks,  the  monuments  of  mighty  and  mysterious 
forces  exerted  in  the  unknown  past. 
2 


14          THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 

Every  genuine  Harfordonian  is  enthusiastic  in 
his  admiration  of  the  Rocks.  They  are  with  him 
the  Great  Curiosity  ;  they  belong  to  him ;  he  is 
proud  of  them.  He  loves  them,  because  associated 
with  them  are  memories  of  happy  hours  passed 
with  congenial  associates  on  their  summits  or  at 
their  base  by  the  waters  of  his  favorite  stream. 
Their  inspirations  are  sweet  to  him,  and  their  pres- 
ence creates  sympathies  loving  and  tender.  In 
their  presence  he  has  a  higher  appreciation  of  Na- 
ture, and  an  intenser  sympathy  with  the  spirit  of 
poetry  which  dwells  amid  such  scenes.  Here,  as 
beautifully  expressed  by  our  own  great  poet,  whose 
highest,  purest  inspirations  are  due  to  that  "  sweet 
spirit  which  fills  the  world  ;"  here,  amid  everlast- 
ing hills,  mountain  and  shattered  cliff,  and  green 
valley,  and  river  and  brook,  and  the  silent  majesty 
of  deep  woods — 

In  many  a  lazy  syllable  repeating 
Their  old  poetic  legends  to  the  winds, 

his  thoughts  are  uplifted  from  earth.  And  such 
also  is  the  interest  he  feels  in  the  general  library  of 
the  Rocks,  consisting  of  many  volumes  of  rare  in- 
formations. 

Will  the  coming  of  the  Railroad  and  the  devel- 
opment of  the  commercial  and  business  life,  as  has 
been  feared,  lessen  the  attractions  of  the  Rocks? 
The  poetries  of  Nature  will  still  be  there,  and  the 
presence  of  the  accidents  of  artificial  life  may 
heighten  by  contrast  the  interest,  making  the  poet- 
ries of  Nature  more  poetical.  Happily,  the  ap- 
proach by  the  Railroad,  especially  from  the  Smith, 
will  open  up  a  view  of  the  Rocks  surpassing  in  at- 


THEIR  LEGENDS   AND   HISTORY.  15 

tractiveness.  Passengers  from  that  direction,  in 
crossing  the  bridge  over  the  Creek  at  the  head  of 
the  dam,  will  have  a  view  of  the  upper  portion  of 
the  Rocks,  which  by  a  well  known  quality  of  the 
mind  will  exaggerate  the  whole  picture.  Mightier 
structures  they  will  seem  to  be,  having  their  found- 
ations in  greater  depths,  because  their  summits 
tower  upward,  touching  the  heavens.  The  Rocks, 
their  legends  and  history,  the  poetries  of  Nature 
made  more  poetical  by  the  contrasts  suggested  by 
the  thundering  train  and  smoking  locomotive,  will 
ever  be  sources  of  interest ;  and  that  singular  en- 
thusiasm felt  by  those  whose  dwelling-places  are 
not  distant  from  the  Great  Curiosity  will  abide. 


RAZUKA; 

A   LEGEND    OP   ROCK   RIDGE   LAKE. 


THE  Rocks  of  Deer  Creek  are  the  great  natural 
curiosity  of  Harford  County,  Md.  Who  first  dis- 
covered them?  What  was  their  condition  at  the 
time  of  discovery  ?  These  questions  may  not  be  ca- 
pable of  satisfactory  answers.  A  tradition  of  the 
distant  and  uncertain  past  is  that  the  first  white 
man  who  visited  that  locality  did  not  find  it  as  it 
now  is.  Instead  of  the  gorge,  and  the  rocks,  and 
the  river  running  at  their  base,  there  was  an  impact 


16          THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 

rock  ridge,  holding  against  its  gigantic  breast  the 
waters  of  a  mighty  lake,  and  throwing  from  its  sum- 
mit, four  hundred  feet  in  height,  the  waters  of  Deer 
Creek.  The  physical  features  of  the  ridge,  and  the 
characteristics  of  the  low  lands  for  at  least  five  miles 
above  it,  justify  the  conjecture  that  the  tradition- 
ary lake  and  cataract  are  not  myths.  In  the  ab- 
sence of  certain  historical  information,  it  may  be 
allowable  to  accept  the  tradition  as  in  accordance 
substantially  with  the  facts.  Of  the  name  of  the 
first  discoverer  we  have  no  available  knowledge.  If 
his  name  is  recorded,  it  may  be  found  in  some 
musty  volume  of  some  foreign  library.  There  is  a 
bare  possibility  that  some  adventurer,  associated  with 
the  expedition  of  the  celebrated  Captain  John  Smith, 
the  founder  of  the  colony  of  Jamestown,  Virginia, 
who  in  his  exploration  of  the  Chesapeake  Bay  and 
its  tributaries,  sailed  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the  Sus- 
quehanna  river,  may  have  heard,  on  the  arrival  of 
the  expedition  at  that  locality,  of  the  wonders  of 
the  not  distant  wilderness — scarce  a  day's  journey 
—and  that  he  was  the  first  civilized  man  who  gazed 
upon  those  wonderful  exhibitions  of  nature.  It 
may  be  that  to  a  Jesuit  father,  who  had  penetrated 
the  wilderness  in  the  prosecution  of  his  sacred  mis- 
sion, the  honor  of  discovery  is  due.  These  holy 
fathers  were  the  earliest  explorers  of  our  Western 
territories  and  inland  seas  and  rivers.  They  were 
the  spiritual  guides  and  counsellors  of  many  of  the 
North  American  Indians,  and  in  the  furtherance  of 
their  work  rescued  many  a  wonder  of  nature  from 
the  gloom  of  the  primeval  forest.  But  even  though 
these  conjectures  be  inadmissible,  and  we  should  be 
left  to  the  judgment  that  at  the  discovery  of  this 


THEIR   LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY.  17 

continent  by  Columbus,  in  1492,  the  Rocks  and  the 
Ridge  were  essentially  what  they  are  at  the  present 
time,  such  a  conviction  does  not  destroy  our  faith  in 
the  existence  of  the  lake  and  fall  at  some  more  dis- 
tant period  in  the  past.  The  testimony  of  the  ridge 
and  valleys  assures  our  belief.  We  naturally  regret 
that  the  pent-up  waters  of  Deer  Creek  exerted  so 
soon  that  resistless  energy  which  clove  asunder  a 
mountain  and  reduced  their  volume  to  the  compar- 
atively small  stream  of  to-day.  There  is  beauty  in 
the  sinuous  Deer  Creek,  threading  its  way  between 
abrupt  wooded  hills  and  along  fertile  valleys  ;  also 
sublimity  in  the  Rocks  and  rapids  as  they  now  are  ; 
but  how  much  more  of  grandeur  in  the  mighty  lake 
and  the  lofty  cataract,  rivalling  the  Falls  of  Mont- 
morenci  or  those  of  the  Yosemite  Valley. 

An  ancient  bard,  whose  name  is  unknown,  sang 
of  the  Rocks  of  Deer  Creek : 

A  bare  and  isolated  rock, 
On  which  no  tuft  of  moss  has  ever  grown ; 
In  front  a  precipice  descends  far  down, 
Where  a  rapid  river  sweeps  along. 
Behind,  nature  has  shaped  an  opening  in  the  cliff 
(Which  looks  with  frowning  brows  upon  the  scene), 
To  the  resemblance  of  a  lovely  garden ; 
There  wild  flowers  bloom,  and  scent  the  evening  breeze; 
There  birds  resort  and  warble  all  day  long; 
-TJiere  lovers  meet  and  whisper  tales  of  love. 

I  have  italicized  the  last  line,  and  for  two  reasons  ; 
first,  because  it  is  as  true  of  the  present  as  the  past ; 
and  second,  because  it  recalls  the  legend  of  the  Lake 
and  the  Rocks,  which  was  learned  from  the  aged 
and  venerable  hermit  of  the  Otter  Rock. 

There  once  lived  on  the  northern  borders  of  the 
lake,  in  the  wigwam  of  her  father,  a  noted  chieftain 


18          THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 

in  his  day,  an  Indian  maiden  of  exceeding  beauty 
and  rare  fascination.  This  latter  statement  may 
be  received  with  incredulity  by  those  who  have  not 
had  the  opportunity  of  observing  the  North  Ameri- 
can Indians  in  their  natural  state,  removed  from  the 
contamination  of  civilization.  The  hermit  assured 
me  that  it  is  nevertheless  true,  and  I  proceed  in  his 
own  language  to  describe  the  attractions  of  Razuka, 
the  Beauty  of  the  Lake : 

"  Slender,  delicate  and  elastic  as  a  reed  swaying 
in  the  currents  of  a  gentle  breeze,  above  the  ordi- 
nary height,  while  all  the  outlines  of  her  graceful 
figure  displayed  the  lithe  and  fragile  symmetry  of 
girlish  years  with  the  mature  development  of  perfect 
womanhood.  Her  brow  and  face  were  dark,  and 
the  rich  blood  crimsoned  her  full  pouting  lips,  and 
flushed  peach-like  through  the  golden  hue  of  her 
cheeks  with  as  warm  a  tide  as  ever  burned  in  the 
impassioned  cheeks  of  an  Anglo-Norman  beauty. 
Her  long  straight  hair  was  of  the  deepest  black. 
Her  eyes  had  the  long  almond  orbits  and  long  fringed 
lashes,  which  are  deemed  the  rarest  charms  of  Ital- 
ian beauty,  and  the  large  soft  pupils  of  the  deepest, 
clearest  hazel  swam  in  a  field  of  nacry  bluish  lustre, 
which  could  be  compared  to  nothing  but  the  finest 
mother-of-pearl.  Her  teeth  were  of  perfect  white- 
ness, and  her  features  had  a  harmony  and  unison 
entirely  their  own,  a  soft,  tranquil,  half  unconcious 
majesty  of  stillness." 

Such  is  the  very  imperfect  recollection  of  the  de- 
scription of  the  beauty  of  Razuka,  the  loveliest  of 
her  tribe.  Habituated  to  labor,  as  all  Indian  women 
are,  it  was  but  pastime  to  paddle  the  light  bark 
canoe,  which  was  her  favorite  employment.  On 


THEIR   LEGENDS    AND    HISTORY.  19 

the  lake  alone,  angling  for  the  fish  which  abounded 
in  it,  she  passed  many  days  of  her  happy  life.  This 
life,  so  free  from  the  anxieties  and  perplexities  of 
the  artificial  life  of  civilized  communities,  might 
have  been  protracted  indefinitely  but  for  the  pos- 
session of  the  personal  attractions  that  entitled  her 
to  the  name  she  bore,  Razuka,  the  Beauty  of  the 
Lake.  Not  only  the  young  men  of  her  own  tribe, 
but  those  of  other  and  distant  tribes,  were  wont  to 
seek  her  presence  at  the  wigwam  of  her  father,  or 
gathering  on  the  shores  of  the  lake,  gaze  with  fixed 
look  upon  the  Beauty  shooting  her  frail  canoe  with 
the  speed  of  the  arrow  through  the  glassy  waters. 
At  one  time,  having  passed  entirely  over  the  lake 
to  the  opposite  shore,  she  was  attracted  by  the 
beauty  of  a  wild  rose,  some  distance  from  the  bank, 
and  was  about  making  an  effort  to  secure  it,  when 
she  heard  the  rumbling  of  the  not  distant  thunder. 
Turning  her  face  to  the  west,  she  observed  a  por- 
tentous storm-cloud  gathering  on  the  horizon. 
Anxious,  she  turned  the  prow  of  the  boat  home- 
ward and  rowing  with  energy,  reached  the  middle 
of  the  lake,  when  the  storm  fell  in  its  fury  upon 
the  waters.  Standing  upon  the  shore  near  the  wig- 
wam was  a  young  man  of  another  tribe,  who  had 
been  smitten  by  the  charms  of  Eazuka,  and  solicit- 
ous for  the  welfare  of  her  whose  life  was  evidently 
imperilled,  entered  hurriedly  a  canoe  lying  near  by, 
and  pushed  out  rapidly  upon  the  storm -lashed  lake 
to  rescue,  if  possible,  the  endangered.  Happily  he 
reached  her,  and  taking  her  into  his  stronger  boat, 
after  almost  superhuman  exertion,  brought  her  in 
safety  to  her  home.  The  rescuer,  whose  timidity 
had  hitherto  deterred  him  from  any  marked  demon- 


20          THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK, 

stration  of  interest  in  Razuka,  now  very  naturally 
hoped  that  the  heroic  deed  he  had  done  would  re- 
commend him  to  the  favorable  consideration  of  the 
chief,  the  father  of  the  saved  ;  and  having  awakened 
the  sentiment  of  gratitude  in  the  mind  of  the 
daughter,  it  might  eventually  lead  to  the  possession 
of  the  prize  he  coveted.  Under  ordinary  circum- 
stances, such  doubtless  would  have  been  the  case, 
but  unhappily  for  the  cherished  hopes  of  the  noble 
rescuer,  Razuka  had,  unknown  to  her  family,  re- 
ciprocated the  affections  of  another.  Chocorea,  the 
son  of  a  M aquas  chief,  was  the  favored  one.  The 
father  of  Razuka,  ignorant  that  the  interest  of  his 
daughter  was  endangered,  and  feeling  the  obliga- 
tion of  gratitude,  would  have  encouraged  the  aspi- 
rations of  the  saviour  of  his  idolized  child.  He 
intimated  to  Razuka  that  possibly  her  union  with 
the  Swan  might  promote  her  happiness,  and  if  so, 
to  himself  the  alliance  would  not  be  objectionable. 
Desirous  to  undeceive  her  father,  and  unwilling 
that  her  rescuer  should  cherish  a  hope  that  could 
not  be  realized,  she  frankly  declared  that  her  heart 
belonged  to  another — to  Chocorea,  the  son  of  the 
chief  of  the  Massawomikes,  the  inveterate  foes  of 
her  tribe. 

"  Never/'  said  the  chief,  her  father,  "shall  the 
daughter  of  a  Susquehannock  wed  the  son  of  a 
Maquas,"  (the  Massawomikes  were  sometimes  so 
called.)  "The  Maquas  are  dogs.  These  f< 
had  been  from  time  immemorial  the  undisturbed 
hunting-grounds  of  my  people,  and  in  this  lake 
they  caught  at  pleasure  the  white  belly  and  the 
blue  fin,  and  below  the  Tails,  in  the  water  of  our 
river,  the  shad,  the  herring  and  the  eel  ;  and  my 


THEIR    LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY.  21 

people  had  hoped  that  they  would  sit  by  their  fires 
unmolested,  and  smoke  their  pipes  in  peace  while 
sun  and  moon  endured  ;  but,  alas  !  in  an  evil  day 
the  prowling  wolves  of  the  frozen  lakes  and  haunted 
forests,  the  sneaking  Maquas,  came,  and  but  for 
the  strength  of  my  arm  and  the  arms  of  my  noble 
braves,  many  of  whom  fell  by  the  arrows  of  the 
hated  ones,  my  people  would  have  been  swept  from 
the  earth,  as  the  north  wind  sweeps  the  dry  leaves 
from  the  woodlands.  Murderers  the  Maquas  are — 
robbers,  sneaks  !  No  Maquas  shall  ever  wed  the 
daughter  of  Nieskan,  the  Susquehannock,  and  the 
life  of  the  insolent  shall  atone  for  his  presumption." 
This  threat  was  put  into  execution. 

In  the  twilight  of  the  same  evening  when  these 
ominous  words  were  uttered,  Razuka  met  Chocorea 
in  the  glen  (their  usual  place  of  meeting),  in  the 
rear  of  her  father's  wigwam.  That  interview  was 
hurried  and  anxious,  and  resulted  in  the  determin- 
ation of  Razuka  to  leave  the  wigwam  of  her  father 
for  the  distant  home  of  her  hated  lover.  A  meet- 
ing was  appointed  for  the  ensuing  evening  to  de- 
termine the  time  and  mode  of  their  departure. 
That  interview  never  took  place.  On  the  morning 
of  that  day,  by  the  hand  of  the  angered  father, 
Chocorea,  the  lover  of  Razuka,  was  slain,  and  his 
body  was  thrown  into  the  lake.  The  report  of  a 
firearm  announced  the  fearful  tidings  to  Razuka, 
and  life  for  her  had  no  further  charms. 

Standing,  like  some  grim  sentinel,  on  the  south- 
ern border  of  the  lake,  was  a  gigantic  and  precipit- 
ous rock,  which  threw  its  shadows  upon  its  waters. 
To  the  summit  of  this  eminence  Razuka,  imme- 
diately upon  the  report  of  the  death  of  Chocorea, 


22          THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 

made  her  way,  and,  fastening  to  her  body  a  stone 
of  heavy  weight,  secured  by  a  cord  made  of  the 
bark  of  the  birch  tree,  threw  herself  into  the  dark 

waters. 

"On  the  strand 

Two  sleeping  bodies  afterward  were  found, 
Chocorea  and  Razuka,  joined  in  death 
As  they  had  been  in  life.     Their  spirits,  too, 
(So  the  untutored  children  of  the  woods 
Believed)  had  gone  to  happier  grounds — 
The  Red  Man's  paradise — to  live  and  love 
Forever  there." 

And  furthermore,  the  legend  says  that  at  that 
lone  rock,  where  Kazuka  met  her  fate,  is  seen  at 
summer  eve  a  great  enchantress, 

"Who  will  sometimes  pour 

Such  glowing  tales  of  love  into  your  ear, 
That,  in  a  transport,  you  will  spread  your  arms, 
And  clasp  a  lovely  vision." 


THE  LAST  KING  AND  QUEEN  OF  THE 
KOCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 

ON  the  right  bank  of  Deer  Creek,  nearly  oppo- 
site the  present  residence  of  E.  S.  Rogers,  Esq., 
wan,  two  centuries  ago,  a  village  of  the  SusqiK-han- 
nock  Indians.  Five  miles  above,  on  the  same 
stream,  fifty  yards  from  where  the  mill  of  James 
Stansbury,  Esq.,  is  located,  was  another  village  of 


THEIR   LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY.  23 

the  same  Indians.  Two  and  one-half  miles  south- 
east of  the  Rocks,  on  the  land  now  in  the  occupancy 
of  Bennett  Grafton,  Esq.,  was  a  third  village. 
Each  of  these  villages  had  its  own  chief,  but,  for 
mutual  protection  and  aid,  were  confederate,  ac- 
knowledging the  supremacy  of  the  chief  whose 
location  was  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Rocks.  This 
chief  bore  the  not  uncommon  Indian  name  of  Bald 
Eagle.  The  chief  of  the  upper  village  was  Great 
Bear  ;  of  the  lower,  Lone  Wolf. 

In  the  autumn  of  the  year  Lone  Wolf,  accom- 
panied by  several  of  his  braves,  visited  the  Iroquois, 
then  living  in  the  northern  part  of  what  is  now  the 
State  of  New  York.  While  there  he  became  en- 
amoured with  an  Ojibway  maiden,  who  had  been 
captured  by  the  Iroquois  in  her  infancy  ;  and  adopt- 
ed by  their  chief,  was  brought  up  in  his  wigwam 
as  his  own  daughter.  The  stay  of  the  visitors  was 
protracted  until  the  snow  began  to  whiten  the  earth 
and  the  ice  to  cover  the  waters,  and  Lone  Wolf 
would  fain  have  tarried  until  the  snow  and  ice  were 
melted  again.  In  the  charms  of  the  Fern-Shaken- 
by-the-Wind,  as  she  had  been  named  by  her  captors, 
he  had  found  an  attraction  stronger  than  that  he  felt 
for  his  own  people  in  the  South  country.  But  fail- 
ing in  his  efforts  to  win  the  affections  of  the  Fern, 
he  resorted  to  diplomac}^,  hoping  that  time,  with 
assiduity  of  attention,  would  soften  the  maiden's 
heart,  and  she  would  ultimately  become  his  wife. 
The  time  of  his  departure  having  come,  he  besought 
the  Iroquois  chief  to  allow  his  adopted  daughter 
and  her  brother  to  accompany  him  to  his  distant 
home,  promising  to  return  them  safely,  and  laden 
with  valuable  presents,  when  the  trees  put  forth 


24          THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREER. 

their  leaves  again.  This  request  was  granted. 
The  Fern  and  her  brother  accompanied  Lone 
Wolf  to  his  home.  Two  moons  after  their  arrival 
the  braves  of  the  three  confederate  villages  were 
summoned  to  attend  a  great  council,  to  be  held  at 
the  Rocks.  At  the  time  appointed  Bald  Eagle  and 
his  wife,  as  was  their  custom  on  such  occasions, 
took  their  places  in  the  seats  on  the  Rocks  known 
as  the  King  and  Queen  seats,  the  braves  of  the  tribe 
and  their  confederates  sitting  upon  the  ground  be- 
neath or  leaning  against  the  interspersed  trees. 
At  a  short  distance  beyond  the  circle  of  the 
assembled  warriors  sat  the  women  and  children  of 
the  tribes  and  their  Iroquois  visitors.  The  Fern 
and  her  brother  listened  attentively  to  the  speeches 
of  the  different  orators.  Nor  were  they  unobserved, 
the  maiden  particularly.  She  could  hot  fail  to  at- 
tract attention,  for  to  perfection  of  form  and  great 
symmetry  of  features,  was  added  a  dignity  of  man- 
ner rarely  equaled.  Among  the  braves  most  attract- 
ed by  the  charms  of  the  Fern  was  The-Bird-that- 
Flies-High,  eldest  son  of  Bald  Eagle,  and  prospec- 
tive heir  to  the  supreme  chieftainship  or  kingship, 
as  it  was  sometimes  designated.  This  young  brave, 
taking  advantage  of  a  short  recess  had  by  the  coun- 
cil, approached  the  Fern,  and  offered  her  as  a  pres- 
ent a  trinket  of  exceeding  brilliancy  and  apparently 
of  great  value,  which  she  graciously  accepted.  This 
was  observed  by  Lone  Wolf,  who,  under  the  influ- 
ence of  an  unconcealed  jealousy,  rushed  to  the  spot 
where  the  maiden  and  her  admirer  were  standing, 
and  seizing  the  trinket,  violently  wrenched  it  from 
her  hands,  and  throwing  it  upon  the  ground,  train- 
pled  it  under  his  feet.  Ordinarily  such  an  act 


THEIR    LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY.  25 

would  have  been  promptly  resented,  but  tbe  Bird 
had  too  much  regard  for  the  dignity  of  the  occasion, 
and  too  much  respect  for  the  character  and  author- 
ity of  his  father,  the  confederate  chief,  to  notice  it 
by  immediate  and  violent  resentment.  He  quietly 
withdrew  from  the  presence  of  the  maiden,,  enter- 
taining, however,  the  purpose  to  avenge  the  insult 
when  the  fitting  opportunity  arrived.  That  oppor- 
tunity was  not  long  delayed. 

Ten  days  after  the  close  of  the  council,  there  was 
a  gathering  of  the  tribes  at  the  lower  village,  to 
participate  in  the  ceremonial  connected  with  the 
rite  of  purification,  a  rite  imperative  in  the  case  of 
every  male  infant  of  the  tribe  at  its  eighth  day. 
From  a  grove  of  stately  oaks,  one  of  which  may  be 
seen  at  this  present  time,  one  hundred  yards  east  of 
the  spot  on  which  now  stands  the  house  of  Mr. 
Grafton,  a  procession  moved  toward  Deer  Creek,  in 
the  waters  of  which  the  child  was  immersed  by  the 
venerable  priest  of  the  lower  village.  The  rite  per- 
formed, the  procession  returned  in  the  order  in 
which  it  came.  The  remaining  portion  of  the  day 
was  spent  in  feasting  and  dancing,  in  which  the 
Bird  participated  with  seeming  enjoyment  and  for- 
getful apparently  of  his  purpose  to  avenge  the  in- 
sult perpetrated  by  Lone  Wolf.  True,  however, 
to  the  instincts  of  his  race,  that  purpose  was  still 
cherished,  and  only  awaited  the  opportunity  of  its 
accomplishment.  When  about  to  leave  for  his  vil- 
lage, he  challenged  Lone  Wolf  to  a  trial  of  skill 
with  the  bow  and  arrow,  to  take  place  at  the  Rocks 
early  on  the  morning  of  the  succeeding  day,  sug- 
gesting at  the  same  time  the  Fern  as  ump  re,  whose 
decision  would  be  respected  by  all.  These  propo- 
3 


26          THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 

sitions  were  gladly  accepted  by  Lone  Wolf,  as  the 
trial  proposed  would  afford  him  an  opportunity  of 
displaying  his  acknowledged  skill,  and  also  of  en- 
joying the  society  of  the  Fern.  On  the  following 
day,  before  the  frosts  had  been  melted  by  the  rising 
sun,  the  contestants  met  at  the  place  designated. 
The  contest  continued  until  the  shadows  fell  upon 
the  roots  of  the  trees,  when  Lone  Wolf  was  declared 
the  victor.  The  crown  of  laurel  was  placed  on  his 
brow  by  the  umpire,  accompanied  by  a  few  words 
complimentary  to  the  skill  of  the  victor,  and  seem- 
ingly expressive  of  personal  interest.  The  Bird 
was  excited  to  madness  by  the  seeming  preference 
of  the  Fern  for  Lone  Wolf,  and  remembering  the 
insult,  suddenly  grasped  his  rival,  and  rushing 
with  the  speed  of  lightning  to  the  edge  of  the  preci- 
pice, threw  him  headlong  into  the  abyss  below.  As 
he  was  falling,  a  few  plaintive  notes  of  the  death- 
song  were  heard,  and  the  voice  of  Lone  Wolf  was 
hushed  forever. 

The  Bird  made  no  effort  to  escape.  Submissive 
to  the  immemorial  custom  and  imperative  law  of  his 
race,  he  sternly  awaited  the  coming  of  the  avenger, 
and  would  certainly  have  been  slain,  but  for  the  in- 
terposition of  the  Fern.  Drawing  from  the  pocket 
of  a  belt  which  she  wore  the  trinket  of  two  jewels 
that  had  not  been  damaged  seriously,  she  offered 
them  to  the  sister  of  Lone  Wolf,  his  only  surviving 
relative,  as  an  atonement  for  the  blood  of  her  broth- 
er. The  offering  was  accepted  by  her,  as  also  by 
her  tribe.  That  trinket  of  two  jewels  was  the  Ar 
and  Thar,  erroneously  supposed  to  have  been  lost 
by  the  ancestors  of  the  present  race  of  Indians  in 
their  migration  to  this  continent  from  the  East.  It 


THEIR    LEGENDS    AND    HISTORY.  2? 

had  been  preserved  in  the  family  of  Bald  Eagle, 
and  highly  valued,  as  its  possession  gave  prosper- 
ity, and  conferred  princely  authority  and  rule. 
That  the  Fern  should  have  parted  with  such  a 
treasure  is  understood  in  the  light  of  the  fact  that 
she  had  cherished  an  attachment  for  the  Bird,  and 
secretly  hoped  to  become  his  wife. 

Three  moons  subsequently,  at  the  feast  of  the 
coming  spring,  always  observed  when  the  first  birds 
made  their  appearance,  there  was  another  gather- 
ing of  the  tribes  at  the  Rocks,  to  witness  the  cele- 
bration of  the  nuptials  of  the  Bird-that-Flies-High 
and  of  the  Fern-Shaken-by-the-Wind.  Following 
immediately  this  ceremony  was  the  consummation 
of  a  design  that  Bald  Eagle  had  long  entertained. 
Aged  and  wearied  with  the  responsibilities  and  la- 
bors pertaining  to  his  position  as  chief  ruler  of  the 
confederate  tribes,  he  abdicated  his  authority,  and 
nominated  his  son  as  his  successor.  His  choice  was 
ratified  by  all  the  tribes.  Conducted  by  the  aged 
priest  of  the  upper  tribe  to  the  seats  on  the  Rocks, 
the  Bird-that-Flies-High  and  the  Fern-Shaken-by- 
the-Wind  were  formally  declared  King  and  Queen 
of  the  confederate  tribes. 

They  were  the  last  King  and  Queen  of  the  Rocks 
of  Deer  Creek.  Ere  many  moons  waxed  and  waned 
the  pale  faces  came.  Driven  from  their  homes  and 
from  the  graves  of  their  forefathers,  the  confederate 
tribes  fled  to  the  land  of  the  setting  sun,  finding 
their  last  hours  and  their  graves  among  strangers 
in  the  distant  wilderness. 

Lone  Wolf,  whose  romantic  history  and  tragic 
death  have  been  related,  was  buried  on  the  banks 
of  Deer  Creek,  about  six  hundred  yards  above  the 


28  THE   ROCKS   OF   DEER   CREEK. 

present  residence  of  Joshua  Rutledge,  Esq.,  and 
often,  during  the  autumnal  nights,  in  the  faint 
light  of  the  waning  moon,  is  seen  at  that  locality  a 
strange  apparition.  It  is  thought  to  he  the  spirit 
of  the  murdered  chieftain  mingling  with  the  shadows 
that  fall  on  the  rippling  waters. 


THE  LAST  INDIAN  OF  DEER  CREEK. 

MINGO  PARK  is  the  name  of  the  estate  of  our 
well-known  and  respected  fel lo vv -citizen,  James 
Stansbury,  Esq.  This  place  is  most  appropriately 
named.  It  is  derived  from  Mingo  Hill,  an  ahrupt 
eminence  immediately  opposite  the  residence  of  that 
gentleman,  at  the  base  of  which  luns  and  ripples 
the  waters  of  the  far-lamed  Deer  Creek.  The  hill 
itself  takes  its  name  from  Mingo — one  of  the  Min- 
goes — whose  wigwam  was  located  on  the  lowlands, 
an  hundred  yards  or  more  above  the  position  now 
occupied  by  the  mill  of  Mr.  Stansbury,  and  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  stream. 

The  Mingoes  have  become  celebrated  in  Indian 
history.  They  originally  occupied  a  large  part  of 
the  territory  now  included  in  the  State  of  New  York. 
They  were  known  by  several  names.  The  English 
called  them  the  Five  Nations,  because  they  consti- 
tuted a  confederacy  of  that  number  of  diMinrt 
nations,  increased  to  si*  by  the  accession  of  the 


THEIR   LEGENDS    AND    HISTORY.  29 

Tnscaroras  of  Carolina.  The  French  called  them 
Iroquois  ;  the  Dutch,  Maquas,  and  the  Virginia 
Indians  gave  them  the  name  of  Massawomikes.  At 
home  they  were  known  by  the  name  of  Mingoes. 
At  first  their  habitj  had  been  rather  agricultural 
than  warlike,  but  unhappily  for  their  peace,  and 
the  well-being  of  others  of  their  race,  they  were 
attacked  by  the  powerful  tribe  of  the  Adirondacks, 
then  occupying  the  country  three  hundred  miles 
above  Trois-Rivieres  in  Canada.  Necessity  drove 
them  to  war,  and  by  their  prowess  and  success  they 
earned  the  proud  title  of  the  Romans  of  the  West. 
Nearly  exterminating  the  Adironacks,  and  proudly 
exalting  themselves  on  their  overthrow,  the  Iroquois 
or  Mingoes  grew  rapidly  to  be  the  leading  tribe  of 
the  North ,  and  fi  nally  of  the  whole  continent.  But, 
like  many  of  the  mighty  nations  of  the  earth,  they 
have  yielded  to  a  superior  force,  and  there  now 
remains  only  an  handful  to  recount  mournfully  the 
mighty  deeds  of  their  valorous  fathers.  Another 
race,  with  its  teeming  millions,  occupies  their  hunt- 
ing-grounds arid  controls  their  waters.  Their  fate  is 
the  melancholy  recollection  of  a  greatness  never  to 
be  recovered,  and  the  agonizing  anticipation  of 
the  utter  extinction  of  their  race. 

The  Mingo  whose  history  we  record  had,  as  we 
have  seen,  his  home  among  the  wild,  weird  scenes 
of  the  Upper  Deer  Creek.  His  wigwam  at  first 
was  one  of  many,  for  in  the  locality  designated 
there  was  a  considerable  village  of  his  tribe.  The 
coming  of  the  white  man  drove  them  from  their 
homes,  and  they  migrated  northward  and  westward, 
resting  for  a  time  in  the  forests  of  Pennsylvania 
and  on  the  plains  of  Ohio.  Mingo  alone  remained, 
3* 


30  THE   ROCKS   OF   DEER   CREEK. 

occupying  his  wigwam,  with  his  wife  and  children, 
and  finding  his  support  in  the  waters  of  Deer  Creek 
and  in  the  wooded  hills  that  bordered  it.  The  rea- 
son of  this  seemingly  singular  procedure  is,  as  will 
appear,  but  another  illustration  of  the  mysterious 
nature  of  man  and  the  power  of  a  sentiment. 

The  Mi n goes  of  Deer  Creek  made  frequent  forays 
upon  the  Indians  living  on  the  waters  of  the  lower 
Patapsco,  and  occasionally  extended  their  incursions 
into  Eastern  Maryland  and  Virginia.  In  one  of 
their  adventures  they  penetrated  the  country  as  far 
south  as  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Chesapeake  Bay, 
opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Potomac,  and  attacking 
suddenly  and  unexpectedly,  surprised  and  captured 
a  large  village,  with  much  booty  and  some  prison- 
ers. Among  the  captives  was  Watumpka,  the 
daughter  of  Wesaco,  in  his  day  the  most  celebrated 
chieftain  of  the  Wicomicos.  Brought  by  her  cap- 
tors to  the  Rocks  of  Deer  Creek,  which  at  the  period 
referred  to  was  the  general  rendezvous  of  the  Mingo 
warriors  of  the  vicinity,  and  from  which  they  con- 
ducted their  warlike  expeditions,  and  to  which  they 
returned  to  make  distribution  of  the  common  spoils, 
— happily  for  Watumpka,  in  the  allotment  of  the 
prisoners,  she  fell  to  the  share  of  Mingo,  who  had 
participated  in  the  expedition.  This  youthful  war- 
rior had  seen  twenty  summers.  He  had  already  at 
that  age  developed  into  the  noblest  type  of  manhood. 
Six  feet  in  height,  of  corresponding  weight,  straight 
as  the  arrow  he  let  go  from  his  bow,  of  perfect  fea- 
tures, rather  Roman  than  Indian,  and  of  dignified 
mien,  he  was  the  admiration  of  his  tribe.  Added 
to  these  physical  attractions  was  a  mind  and  heart 
intellectual,  sympathetic  arid  loving.  The  artist 


THEIR   LEGENDS    AND    HISTORY.  31 

would  have  selected  him  as  his  ideal,  and  the  female 
heart  chosen  him  as  its  possession  forever.  Of 
Watumpka  it  might  have  heen  said,  Indian  though 
she  was,  what  the  immortal  bard  said  of  the  gentle 
Desdemona : 

"A  maiden  never  bold, 
Of  spirit  so  still  and  quiet  that  her  motion 
Blushed  at  itself." 

And  of  the  attractions  of  her  person  what  Michael 
Cassio  said  of  the  gentle  maiden : 

"Tempests  themselves,  high  seas  and  howling  winds, 
As  having  sense  of  beauty,  do  omit 
Their  mortal  natures,  letting  safe  go  by 
The  divine"  Watumpka. 

Mingo  saw  and  was  conquered.  His  captive  was 
the  captor.  Watumpka  submitting  resignedly  to 
the  fate  of  the  captured — expatriation  from  her 
home — and  yielding  to  the  ardent  wooing  of  her 
lover,  consented  to  become  his  bride.  The  celebra- 
tion of  the  nuptials  was  in  accordance  with  the  rites 
of  the  Mingoes,  after  which  she  occupied  with  her 
husband  his  wigwam  on  the  banks  of  the  Upper 
Deer  Creek.  There,  under  the  shadows  of  Mingo 
Hill,  in  the  quiet  and  patient  performance  of  the 
duties  of  her  position  as  wife  and  mother,  she  passed 
the  days  of  her  allotted  life.  Not  indeed  without 
feeling  the  weight  of  the  shadows  that  fell  upon  her 
heart  in  the  recollection  of  the  happy  scenes  of 
childhood  and  youth,  and  in  the  remembrance  of 
the  loss  of  a  noble  father  and  the  care  of  a  tender 
mother.  These  were  but  occasional  experiences. 
The  duties  of  life  and  the  sense  of  the  affections  of 
him  she  had  chosen  generally  absorbed  her  thought. 


32          THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 

How  long  Mingo  remained  on  Deer  Creek  after 
the  occupancy  of  the  country  by  the  whites  is  not 
known.  The  ancestors  of  some  of  the  present  res- 
idents of  upper  Harford  knew  him  to  have  been 
there  several  years  after  they  had  settled  in  the 
neighborhood — among  them  Richard  Deaver,  the 
great-grandfather  of  the  present  George  and  Rich- 
ard Deaver,  Seniors.  That  after  a  time  he  followed 
his  tribe  westward  is  conjectured  ;  but  if  so,  not 
until  after  the  death  of  Watumpka,  his  captured 
bride.  By  the  side  of  the  river,  under  the  shadows 
of  the  trees,  was  laid  in  deepest  grief  what  was 
mortal  of  Watumpka,  the  child  of  Wesaco  the  Wi- 
comico,  and  the  wife  of  Mingo  the  Massawomike. 
And  it  is  not  difficult,  we  think,  for  the  occupants 
of  .Mingo  Park,  as  they  sit  by  the  blazing  fire  in  the 
winter  nights,  to  imagine  that  they  hear  the  voice 
of  Mingo,  who  long  since  joined  Watumpka  in  the 
land  of  spirits,  mingling  with  the  voices  of  the 
winds  without.  It  is  the  voice  of  the  shade  of  the 
yet  living  and  loving  Mingo,  which  seeks  to  com- 
mune with  the  shade  of  the  still  living  and  loving 
Watumpka. 

Honnis,  a  venerable  chief  of  the  Wyandots,  said 
to  an  acquaintance  of  the  writer  of  this  narrative, 
that  the  warriors  of  his  nation  were  called  upon  to 
put  each  one  grain  of  corn  into  a  wooden  tray  that 
would  hold  more  than  half  a  bushel,  and  that 
before  all  had  done  so  the  tray  was  full  and  running 
over.  The  Mingoes  were  a  more  numerous  and  pow- 
erful nation,  covering  a  great  tract  of  country,  esti- 
mated to  have  been  twelve  hundred  miles  in  length 
and  seven  hundred  miles  in  breadth.  Along  the 
Busquehanna  and  its  tributaries,  among  the  forests 


Til  KIR   LEGENDS   AND   HISTORY.  33 

of  Deer  Creek  and  in  its  valleys,  were  once  many  of 
these  people.  There  remained  for  a  while  after 
their  departure  a  single  representative  of  this  once 
mighty  nation.  He  lingered  because  his  captive 
wife,  the  beautiful  and  loving  Watumpka,  was  alien 
to  his  people.  They  had  killed  her  father,  Wesaco, 
the  honored  chief  of  the  Wicomicos,  and  made  her 
a  captive  in  a  strange  land  and  among  a  strange 
people.  Obedient  to  a  mysterious  quality  of  the 
human  mind,  she  became  the  wife  of  a  Mingo,  par- 
ticipating in  his  toils  and  sharing  in  his  sympathies. 
Him  alone  she  loved,  and  for  him  and  the  children 
she  bore  to  him  she  lived — to  the  Mingoes  alien 
forever, — a  sentiment  that  led  her  to  end  her  life 
and  find  her  grave  among  the  pale  faces,  also  the 
inexorable  foes  of  her  race. 


THE  HERMIT  OF  THE  OTTER  ROCK. 

YEARS  ago — I  will  not  say  how  many — there  lived 
in  the  Valley  of  Virginia  a  family  of  English  origin. 
They  had  emigrated  to  America,  not  to  better 
their  worldly  condition,  but  to  relieve  themselves, 
if  possible,  of  the  shadow  of  a  great  trouble  which 
had  fallen  upon  them  at  their  former  home.  The 
head  of  the  household  was  of  noble  birth — the  blood 

of  the ran  in  his  veins.    Unhappily  his  temper 

was  irascible,  and  he  lacked  ability  to  control  its 


34          THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 

violence.  In  a  controversy  with  a  fellow-nobleman 
he  yielded  to  its  exactions,  and  struck  a  blow  that 
almost  instantly  proved  fatal  to  his  antagonist. 
Conscious  of  the  insufficiency  of  the  provocation 
that  led  to  the  fatal  result,  and  properly  fearing  the 
majesty  of  that  equal  justice  which  is  a  distinguish- 
ing characteristic  of  English  law,  he  fled  his  country, 
and  under  an  assumed  name  came  to  America,  and 
found,  as  he  thought,  a  refuge  of  safety  in  the  prov- 
ince of  New  Jersey.  Having  brought  with  him 
abundant  means,  he  purchased  an  estate  in  the  vicin- 
ity of  what  is  now ,  and  made  preparation  for 

the  reception  of  his  family.  The  large  reward  that 
had  been  offered  for  his  arrest  stimulated  inquiry, 
and  it  was  learned  that  he  had  fled  to  America. 
Detectives  were  put  upon  his  track,  and  they 
were  likely  to  accomplish  the  arrest  of  the  object 
of  their  search.  Information  of  these  facts  coming 
to  the  knowledge  of  the  criminal  and  fugitive,  he 
suddenly  and  secretly  left  the  locality  in  which  he 
had  been  living,  and  by  concealed  travel  eventually 
reached  the  forests  of  Virginia.  Purchasing  from 
Lord  Fairfax,  then  proprietor  of  the  northern  neck 
of  Virginia,  a  tract  of  land  consisting  of  two  thou- 
sand acres,  a  few  miles  east  of  the  present  site  of 
— ,  he  again  prepared  for  the  reception  of  his 
wife  and  children.  Here  he  was  secure,  and  was 
in  a  brief  time  rejoined  by  his  family.  At  that  dis- 
tant period  of  the  past  there  were  not,  as  now,  large 
towns,  substantially  built,  and  attractive  villages, 
with  communities  in  town  and  country  possessing 
all  the  refinements  of  highly  cultured  society. 
There  was  not  a  hamlet ;  only  an  occasional  cabin, 
connected  by  paths  or  the  blazings  of  the  trees,  and 


THEIR    LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY.  35 

with  rare  exceptions,  the  few,  isolated  inhabitants 
were  as  rude  and  uncultivated  as  their  surround- 
ings. An  exception  was  the  family  of  noble  lineage. 
The  oldest  child  of  that  family  was  a  son,  and  at 
the  time  of  which  we  write  was  a  young  man  twenty- 
four  years  of  age,  of  cultivated  mind,  and  of  much 
personal  attraction.  In  heart  he  was  as  his  mother, 
a  woman  of  gentle  nature  and  sweetness  of  disposi- 
tion. And  from  her  he  inherited  a  love  of  solitude. 
Though  she  was  the  wife  of  a  nobleman  of  large 
wealth,  and  constrained  by  her  position  when  at 
home  to  mingle  much  in  society,  it  was  always  with- 
out pleasure,  and  gladly  intermitted.  This  predis- 
position to  solitude  was  intensified  by  the  occurrence 
which  led  to  the  removal  of  the  family  to  America. 
In  its  wilds  at  that  day,  where  solitude  reigned 

almost  supreme,  Walter  realized  the  fullest 

gratification  of  the  inherited  and  now  cultivated 
predisposition.  He  communed  with  nature  and 
with  his  own  spirit,  saddened  by  the  remembrance  of 
a  great  misfortune. 

Calamities  come  not  singly.  To  that  family  of 
stricken  ones  death  came  in  the  character  of  a  mys- 
terious plague,  and  all  save  Walter fell  victims 

to  its  relentless  power.  The  solitude  that  he  had 
coveted  and  enjoyed,  now  intensified,  became  insup- 
portable, and  he  sought  relief  from  its  oppressions. 
Having  heard  from  a  trapper  of  the  wild  of  north- 
eastern Maryland,  with  its  wondrous  lake  abound- 
ing in  fish,  of  the  cataract  falling  from  the  summit 
of  a  rocky  ridge  four  hundred  feet  in  height,  and  of 
the  rapid  river,  in  the  waters  of  which  the  otter  and 
the  beaver  abounded,  and  of  the  forests  in  which 
roamed  the  elk,  the  bear  and  the  deer,  he  resolved 


36  THE   ROCKS   OF   DEER   CREEK. 

to  muke  it  his  home,  where,  undisturbed  by  human 
associations,  he  might  commune  alone  with  nature 
and  the  denizens  of  forest  and  river  ;  and  forgetting, 
if  such  were  possible,  that  crime  of  a  parent  which 
had  smitten  his  heart  with  an  inexpressible  anguish, 
wait  patiently  and  submissively  for  that  event  which 
comes  to  all.  Early  on  the  morning  of  May —  he 
bade  adieu  to  the  forests  of  Virginia,  and,  after  a 
fatiguing  journey  of  some  days,  reached  his  desti- 
nation. He  had  not  been  deceived  by  the  represen- 
tations of  the  trapper.  He  found  lake  and  cataract, 
waters  abounding  in  fish  and  forests  in  game.  About 
one-half  mile  east  of  the  Kocks  of  Deer  Creek  is  a 
massive  rock  projecting  from  a  precipitous  hill  into 
the  water.  The  rock  is  cavernous,  arid  was  a  home 
of  otters  ;  hence  its  name,  the  li  Otter  Kock."  On 
the  hill,  one  hundred  yards  above  the  rock,  in  a 
thick  growth  of  laurel,  the  hermit  erected  a  rude 
hut  of  fallen  logs.  The  cabin  was  well  concealed 
from  view  by  the  thicket  of  undergrowth,  and 
having  to  and  from  it  a  narrow,  circuitous  path,  ho 
deemed  himself  secure  from  intrusion.  The  once 
"  petted  child  of  fortune  "  took  up  his  abode  in  this 
solitary  place  of  the  wilderness,  trusting  in  his  skill 
in  the  use  of  gun  and  trap  and  hook  to  supply  him 
with  the  material  necessary  to  sustain  his  physical 
life,  and  hoping  to  escape  the  recollections  of  the 
great  wrong  that  had  poisoned  so  soon  the  springs 
of  his  earthly  felicity. 

Solitude,  to  be  advantageous,  must  be  for  a  season 
only.  Communing  with  ones  self  cannot  long  be 
protracted.  Too  long  apart  from  his  fellows,  man 
will  conjure  up  a  thousand  beings  to  con  verso  with 
his  thoughts  ;  he  will  give  sentiment  and  even  Ian- 


THEIR   LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY.  37 

gunge  to  inanimate  objects.  The  wild  man  will 
people  the  solitudes  of  the  wilderness  with  society, 
and  the  untutored  man  in  his  solitary  watchings 
and  walkings  among  hills  and  valleys  has  his  fears 
aroused  by  traditions  of  places  haunted  by  spirits 
and  ghouls.  Where  human  associations  break  not 
the  monotony  of  speechless  existence,  there  it  al- 
ways is 

"Fast  in  the  wilderness  and  dream  of  spirits." 

So  it  became  with  the  hermit.  Now  he  lived  in 
an  ideal  world.  Educated  from  his  youth  to  be- 
lieve in  spiritual  existences,  he  peopled  the  solitudes 
with  real  though  invisible  beings,  and  often  in  his 
dreams,  as  also  in  his  waking  reveries,  communed 
with  them.  The  Puckwudjimmenees — those  fairy 
beings  whom  the  Algonquins  thought  planted  the 
acorns  from  which  the  forests  of  oaks  grow — not 
infrequently  to  his  vision 

" came  fleeting  by 

In  the  pale  autumnal  ray." 

In  the  vicinity  of  his  retreat  was  a  gentle  spring 
of  cool,  limpid  water,  which  he  imagined  was 
haunted  by  those  mysterious  little  people.  There 
is.,  perhaps,  some  apology  for  the  superstition,  for 
an  ancient  legend  tells 

"  How  that  old  fountain  was  peopled  erst  by  fairies ; 
That  the  spirit  of  their  spells 
And  flowery  rites  yet  on  its  margin  tarries, 
And  that  upon  the  summer  eve,  in  the  silent  air  still  lingers 
The  wild,  sweet  music  of  a  band  of  fay-like  singers." 

Such  solitude  could    not  be   sustained,  and  the 
hermit  turned  to  the  living  instincts  around  him 
4 


S8          THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 

for  relief.  In  so  doing  he  found  pleasure.  He 
found  in  his  communings  with  the  occupants  of 
forest  and  lake,  grove  and  river,  rare  and  exquisite 
enjoyments,  joys  denied  him  by  the  presence  of  civil- 
ized life,  and  not  found  in  the  dreamy  existence  he 
had  been  living.  The  birds  entertained  him  with 
rarest  songs  of  sweetest  melodies,  and  to  his  ear  the 
howl  of  the  wolf  and  the  cry  of  the  panther  were 
music.  So  also  the  scream  of  the  eagle  and  the 
hissing  of  the  serpent.  With  all  the  habitants  of 
woods  and  waters  he  cultivated  intimate  relations. 
He  recognized  them  as  friends,  and  deported  him- 
self towards  them  as  such.  His  friendship  was 
reciprocated,  and  on  their  part  was  confiding.  Had 
he  been  seen  in  his  wanderings  through  the  wood- 
lands, or  in  his  solitary  walkings  by  the  river's  side, 
strange  phenomena  would  have  been  witnessed. 
The  birds  accompanied  him,  flitting  after  him  from 
tree  to  tree,  or  bush  to  bush,  reluctant,  seemingly,  to 
be  absent  from  one  whom  they  manifestly  esteemed 
and  loved.  The  fish  recognized  his  voice,  and 
upon  his  appearance  on  the  banks  of  the  streams 
would  gather  to  his  presence.  They  fed  from  lii.s 
hand  as  trustingly  as  the  child  feeds  from  the  hands 
of  a  loving  mother.  The  raccoon,  the  opossum,  the 
wildcat  and  the  timid  deer  were'equally  confiding. 
An  Adam  in  his  Eden,  he  ruled  the  beasts  of  the 
field,  the  birds  of  the  air,  and  the  fishes  of  the 
waters.  If  his  physical  necessities  required  the  of- 
fering of  the  confiding,  that  sacrifice  was  made  with 
the  utmost  tenderness  and  consideration. 

The  hermit  was  not  always  indifferent  to  human 
associations.  Rarely,  indeed,  did  he  Irave  his  seclu- 
sion to  mingle  with  men.  At  distant  intervals  the 


THEIR    LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY.  39 

hermitage  was  visited  by  persons  prompted  by  curi- 
osity, if  by  no  otber  motive.  These  rare  occasions 
were  enjoyed  by  him,  and  to  his  visitors  were  of 
great  interest.  His  facility  of  communication  was 
great,  and  at  the  times  referred  to  his  conversations 
were  intensive  in  their  character,  the  logical  reaction 
from  the  life  of  seclusion  he  had  led. 

Age  came  to  the  hermit,  and  with  it  thoughts  of 
other  days  and  sweeter  joys.  Present  to  his  vision 
often  was  the  image  of  his  mother,  and  in  the  slum- 
bers of  the  night  he  would  dream  that  he  heard  her, 
as  in  the  days  of  his  childhood,  breathing  blessings 
upon  him.  He  awoke  to  find  it  but  an  illusive 
dream.  Sickness  came,  and  with  it  fever,  picturing 
images  of  terror.  The  vigils  of  the  night  brought 
with  them  the  sense  of  loneliness,  and  the  mornings 
gave  no  relief.  Alone  in  the  wilderness,  without 
the  sympathy  of  his  kind,  and  by  infirmity  denied 
the  happiness  he  had  derived  from  association  with 
the  instincts  around  him,  he  passed  the  days  of  his 
closing  life.  He  was  then  heard  to  say  he  was 
thinking  of  his  mother — 

' '  Thy  gentle  hand  seems  lightly  still  caressing 
The  flaxen  hair  so  loved,  so  prized  by  thee, 
And  as  in  days  gone  by,  I  hear  thy  blessing 
Breathed,  oh!  so  earnestly." 

The  end  came.  The  solitary  watcher  by  the 
couch  of  the  departing  was  a  lone  star.  Looking 
upward,  he- gazed  long  and  intently  upon  it,  and 
interpreted  the  beautiful  phenomenon  as  prophetic 
of  joys  beyond  it,  where  He  abides  who  dwells  in 
the  light  inaccessible.  His  last  earthly  vision  was 
the  fading  image  of  his  mother. 


40  THE   ROCKS   OP    DEER  CREEK. 

"Even  thine  image  now, 
The  image  of  the  lovely  form,  that  shone, 
The  starlight  of  my  childhood,  seems  to  fade 
From  memory's  vision.     'Tis  as  some  pale  tint 
Upon  the  twilight  wave,  a  broken  glimpse 
Of  something  beautiful  and  dearly  loved 
In  far  gone  years,  a  dim  and  tender  dream, 
That,  like  a  faint  bow,  on  a  darkened  sky, 
Lies  on  my  clouded  brain." 

Times  change,  and  men  and  things  change  with 
them.  The  lake  and  cataract  no  longer  exist. 
Under  the  shadows  of  the  Rocks  human  habitations 
are  built.  The  waters  of  Deer  Creek  are  utilized 
in  the  production  of  the  necessities  and  conveniences 
of  civilized  and,  in  a  certain  sense,  artificial  life. 
The  rude  hut  of  the  hermit  has  long  since  dis- 
appeared, and  the  progress  of  the  age  threatens 
greater  innovations.  But  a  very  brief  space  of 
time  ago  men  of  singular  mien  were  seen  among 
the  hills  and  along  the  valleys  of  Deer  Creek,  with 
peculiar  instruments  in  their  hands,  measuring  the 
surface  of  the  earth  as  they  passed.  Unknowingly 
they  stood  on  the  very  spot  on  which  rested  the  Her- 
mit of  the  Otter  Rock,  and  had  they  not  been  so  in- 
tent on  pursuing  their  curious  vocation,  they  might 
have  heard  the  voice  of  a  mysterious  though  invisi- 
ble stranger  bidding  them,  "  Begone  !  "  For  have 
not  these  men  reported  that  these  hills  and  valleys 
shall  soon  reverberate  with  the  loud  whistlings  of 
the  "  locomotive "  and  the  thunderings  of  the 
"  train?"  And  such  will  be  the  substitution  for 
the  poetries  of  nature  in  the  solitudes  of  the  wilder- 
ness. 


THEIR   LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY.  41 


THE  ROBBER'S  DEN ;  OR,  THE  LEARNED 
PHILOLOGIST. 

A  SHORT  distance  above  the  Otter  Rock,  on  the 
opposite  bank  of  Deer  Creek,  and  in  view  of  the 
Rocks,  is  a  large  cavernous  rock,  that  was,  as  tradi- 
tion informs  us,  in  the.  far  past  the  retreat  of  an 
unhappy  man,  whose  hands,  like  those  of  Ishmael, 
the  brother  of  Isaac,  the  son  of  Abraham,  were 
against  every  man,  and  every  man's  hand  against 
him.  The  entrance  to  the  cave  is  now  partially 
closed  by  portions  of  its  roof,  which  have  fallen. 
Directly  opposite,  and  near  to  the  water,  was  a  nar- 
row path,  used  at  first  by  the  Indiana  in  their  jour- 
ney ings  to  and  from  the  Rocks  of  Deer  Creek  and 
the  waters  of  the  Chesapeake  Bay  and  Patapsco 
River,  afterwards  by  the  original  white  settlers  in 
their  travel  from  one  neighborhood  to  another. 

The  occupant  of  the  cavern  had  been  reared  in 
affluence  and  amidst  elevating  and  refining  associ- 
ations. Born  in  Germany,  he  received  his  early 
education  in  a  gymnasium,  an  institution  answering 
to  an  American  college.  Afterwards  he  became  a 
student  of  the  University  of  Heidelberg,  one  of  the 
largest  educational  institutions  of  a  land  which  has 
ever  been  distinguished  for  its  ripe  scholars  and 
learned  philosophers.  Immediately  after  the  com- 
pletion of  his  scholastic  studies,  he  entered  the  ser- 
vice of  the  government  as  an  attache7  of  an  Ambas- 
sador to  the  English  Court.  Of  great  acuteness  of 
intellect,  well  skilled  in  international  law  and  the 
art  of  diplomacy,  and  ever  prompt  and  faithful  in 
4* 


42  THE   ROCKS   OF   DEER   CREEK. 

the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  his  position,  he  won 
the  confidence  of  his  superiors,  and  was  recom- 
mended to  preferment.  Unhappily,  at  that  period 
of  English  history,  the  Court  was  corrupt;  from 
the  monarch  down  to  the  humhlest  servant  of  the 
State,  profligacy  of  manners  generally  prevailed. 
Truth,  honor,  integrity,  virtue,  were  words  that 
had  no  meaning,  for  the  sentiments,  principles  and 
actions  of  which  they  are  the  representatives  had  no 
existence.  Influenced  by  such  examples,  his  moral 
force  was  weakened  and  his  sense  of  right  obscured. 
The  tempter  came  to  him  in  the  guise  of  a  gilded 
bait — the  love  of  money — that  not  for  its  own  sake, 
but  for  the  ability  it  would  give  him  to  gratify  his 
depraved  appetites  and  propensities.  The  German 
government  has  always  been  characterized  by  a 
commendable  frugality,  not  parsimoniousness,  but 
a  generous  economy.  Hence,  the  salary  and  per- 
quisites of  the  attache7  sufficed  to  maintain  the  dig- 
nity of  his  position,  but  were  not  enough  for  its 
abuse.  The  Embassy,  having  failed  on  several 
occasions  to  receive  remittances  of  money  that  had 
been  made  in  the  usual  manner,  employed  the  ser- 
vices of  English  detectives,  who,  after  several  fail- 
ures, succeeded  in  fixing  the  crime  of  the  abstraction 
of  the  funds  on  the  subordinate. 

The  young  man,  receiving  timely  information 
that  suspicion  had  fallen  on  him,  immediately,  in 
the  habit  of  an  English  laborer,  went  on  board  a 
Dutch  vessel  then  lying  in  the  Thames,  which  in  a 
few  hours  thereafter  hoisted  sail  for  America.  Ar- 
rived at  new  New  York,  he  deemed  it  unsafe  to  re- 
main, and  having  heard  of  the  wilds  of  Soutlmn 
Pennsylvania,  journeyed  thitherward.  And  alter 


THEIR   LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY.  43 

a  fatiguing  travel  of  many  days,  through  forests 
and  swamps,  and  crossing  broad  rivers,  he  reached 
a  locality  one-half  mile  east  of  the  present  site  of 
Fawn  Grove,  York  county.  He  built  a  rude  hut  of 
bark,  a  few  yards  above  the  spring,  ou  the  farm  now 
in  the  occupancy  of  Thomas  II.  Wright,  Esq.,  and 
there  tarried  for  a  time,  subsisting  on  the  game  the 
forest  afforded  and  the  trout  caught  in  the  waters  of 
Wild  Cat  Branch.  His  stay  would  probably  have 
been  protracted,  but  ascertaining  a  few  months  after 
his  coming  that  several  families  of  English — sup- 
posed to  have  been  members  of  the  Society  of  Friends 
— had  migrated  to  his  vicinity,  he  hurriedly  left,  and 
directing  his  steps  southward,  found  himself  in  a 
few  hours  amidst  the  rugged  hills  and  dense  forests 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  Rocks  of  Deer  Creek,  and 
believing  that  here,  if  anywhere,  he  would  be  safe 
from  the  pursuit  of  justice,  he  chose  as  the  place  of 
his  refuge  the  rock  now  known  as  the  Robber's  Den. 
Better  thoughts  came  to  the  unfortunate,  and  he 
resolved  to  expiate,  by  penitence  and  reformation,  if 
such  could  be,  the  sin  that  had  made  him  an  outcast 
and  a  fugitive  in  the  wilds  of  America.  There  was, 
indeed,  no  church  in  the  wilderness,  at  the  altars 
of  which  he  could  bow,  no  clergyman  to  instruct  and 
comfort,  but  He  against  whom  he  had  most  sinned, 
who  is  not  confined  to  temples  built  with  hands, 
was  there  in  that  "  void  waste,"  to  witness  his  tears 
and  hear  his  cries.  Alas  !  there  needed  only  the 
presence  of  the  tempter  and  the  occasion  of  tempt- 
ation— where  are  they  not? — to  call  forth  again 
the  vicious  elements  of  character  that  had  not  been 
destroyed,  only  suppressed.  At  that  time  Mason 
and  Dixon  were  running  and  marking  the  boundary 


44  THE   ROCKS   OF   DEER   CREEK. 

line  between  the  provinces  of  Maryland  and  Penn- 
sylvania, and  their  party  had  in  the  progress  of 
their  work  reached  a  point  near  where  the  road  from 
Fawn  Grove  to  Fellowship  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  crosses  Wild  Cat  Branch.  At  a  spring  near 
by,  now  on  the  farm  of  J.  L.  Glenn,  Esq.,  they 
had  encamped  for  a  few  days  to  await  supplies  of 
provisions  from  Philadelphia,  by  way  of  Joppa, 
then  a  seaport  town  in  the  province  of  Maryland. 
From  what  is  now  Forest  Hill,  there  ran  northward 
toward  the  camp  of  the  surveyors  the  Indian  trail 
of  which  I  have  written,  along  which  the  packed 
mules  must  pttss. 

On  the  morning  of  what  promised  to  be  a  bright 
autumnal  day,  the  robber  was  awakened  from  his 
somewhat  protracted  slumbers  by  the  cries  of  the 
muleteers  then  approaching.  Hastily  seizing  his 
gun,  he  made  rapidly  for  the  summit  of  Rock  Ridge, 
one  mile  southwest  of  the  Rocks,  and  secreting 
himself,  awaited  the  coming  of  the  train.  In  less 
than  an  hour  it  reached  that  point  of  the  path,  and 
being  in  range  with  his  rifle,  he  fired,  killing  the 
leading  mule.  This  so  alarmed  the  drivers  that 
they  hastily  abandoned  the  mules,  and  ran  in  the 
direction  of  their  camp.  Hiding  the  spoils  in  a  se- 
cure place,  the  robber  left  the  locality  of  his  Den  for 
a  time,  to  avoid  the  search  that  he  feared  would  be 
made  for  him.  In  a  few  weeks  he  returned  to  the 
cave. 

In  the  Den  the  once  accomplished  gentleman  and 
honored  scholar  and  diplonmte,  but  now  degraded 
and  dishonored  man,  passed  several  years  of  his  life, 
issuing  therefrom,  as  necessity  constrained  him,  to 
prey  upon  the  unsuspecting  and  often  unarmed 


THEIR   LEGENDS  AND   HISTORY.  45 

travelers.  His  many  deeds  of  cruel  daring  are  re- 
corded in  the  "  Book  of  the  Chronicles  of  the  Rocks 
of  Deer  Creek,"  but,  sadly  for  our  knowledge,  these 
chronicles  are  written  in  a  language  to  which  we 
have  no  adequate  key.  There  has  come  down  to  us 
the  interpretation  of  a  few  words  of  the  now  obso- 
lete language,  which  gives  us  some  faint  idea  of  the 
difficulty  of  translation  by  the  most  skilled  philolo- 
gists, if  a  translation  is  possible  at  all.  The  words 
are  :  NummatQhakodtautamoQnkanunnannash — our 
lusts  ;  Kummogkodonattootirnmooetjongannunnon- 
ash — our  questions  ;  and  Noowomantainmoonkauu- 
naunash — our  loves.  Whether  this  was  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Susquehannocks,  who  originally  occu- 
pied the  country  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Rocks,  or  of 
the  Lenopes,  who  possessed  the  country  eastward 
and  northward,  or  of  the  Mingoes,  who  at  one  period 
dominated  both  of  these  nations,  we  have  not  been 
advised.  It  may  be  an  admixture  of  the  three,  as 
it  is  known  that  the  intermingling  of  tribes  did 
modify  dialects.  Nor  do  we  know  whether  the 
learned  may  or  may  not  find  in  the  words  resem- 
blance to  the  family  of  Semetic  languages — the  He- 
brew, Chaldee,  Arabic,  Punic,  Aramean,  Syriac, 
Ethiopic,  Hymyaritic.  If  such  could  be  shown  to 
be  the  case,  then  we  might  hope  for  the  ultimate 
translation  into  English  of  the  "  Book  of  the  Chron- 
icles of  the  Rocks  of  Deer  Creek."  Such  a  result 
would  also  establish  the  theory  of  the  eastern  ori- 
gin of  the  Indians  of  North  America. 

The  coming  of  new  settlers  made  the  habitation  of 
the  robber  and  philologist  untenantable.  He  could 
not  expose  himself  to  the  certainty  of  detection. 
Furthermore,  just  at  that  time  a  paper  was  found 


46          THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 

by  him  in  the  path  opposite  the  Den  ;  its  contents 
were  as  follows:  "  By  the  King,  a  proclamation 
for  the  more  effectual  reducing  and  suppressing  of 
pirates  and  privateers  in  America,  as  well  on  the 
sea  as  on  the  land  in  great  numbers,  committing  fre- 
quent robberies  and  piracies,  which  hath  occasioned 
a  great  prejudice  and  obstruction  to  trade  and  com- 
merce, and  given  a  great  scandal  and  disturbance  to 
our  government  in  those  parts."  —London  Gazette. 
Whither  he  went,  we  do  not  know  ;  and  the  only 
remembrance  of  the  unhappy  man  is  the  "  Book  of 
the  Chronicles  of  the  Rocks  of  Deer  Creek."  Who 
can  translate  it? 


THE  ENCHANTRESS  OF  HUNTING  RIDGE. 

RUNNING  parallel  with  Rock  Ridge,  one  and  a-half 
miles  north-northwest  of  the  Rocks  of  Deer  Creek, 
is  Hunting  Ridge,  and,  like  the  first,  is  high, 
rugged,  and  in  places  precipitous.  Both  ridges  are 
covered  with  trees,  generally  of  large  growth,  and 
between  them  is  a  narrow  valley.  The  whole  scene 
is  of  the  wildest  character,  and,  singularly,  to  the 
inhabitants  generally  of  the  county  of  Harford,  is 
almost  as  much  unknown  as  are  the  Highlands  of 
Scotland  or  the  mountains  of  Switzerland.  In  the 
narrow  valley,  at  a  time  far  beyond  the  memory  of 
living  man,  tjiere  dwelt,  as  th-e  ancient  legend  tells 


TIIEIR   LEGENDS   AND   HISTORY.  47 

us,  in  a  rude  hut,  built  of  unhewn  logs  and  cov- 
ered with  clapboards,  a  family  consisting  of  three 
persons — an  aged  man,  apparently  of  fourscore 
years,  intellectual  in  his  appearance  and  courtly  in 
his  manners;  a  venerable  woman,  intelligent  and 
dignified  of  mien  ;  their  daughter,  a  young  lady 
possessing  much  beauty,  affable,  and  of  rare  intel- 
lectual and  social  accomplishments.  Whence  they 
came  none  knew,  and  why  they  should  have  left  a 
refined  and  cultivated  community  to  take  up  their 
residence  in  so  isolated  and  forbidding  a  locality 
was  a  mystery  to  all.  After  a  time  the  abode  was 
untenanted,  and  no  one  knew  whither  the  former 
occupants  had  gone.  A  few  years  ago  a  gentleman 
visited  La  Grange,  the  country-seat  of  E.  S.  Rogers, 
Esq.,  and  hearing  the  legend,  was  prompted  by 
curiosity,  and  the  interest  he  felt  in  the  shadowy 
past,  to  visit  the  unknown  scenes.  About  the  mid- 
dle of  the  afternoon  of  a  summer  day  he  left  the 
residence  of  his  hospitable  friend  at  La  Grange,  and 
walked  to  the  locality  of  whose  physical  attractions 
and  mythical  story  he  had  heard.  The  experiences 
of  his  visit  I  will  give  in  his  own  language,  as 
nearly  as  my  memory  will  permit  me : 

"  Entranced  by  the  grandeur  of  the  hills  and 
the  picturesque  loveliness  of  the  vale,  I  lingered 
until  the  twilight  of  the  evening  came.  Warned 
by  the  lateness  of  the  hour,  I  was  about  to  retrace 
my  steps  toward  La  Grange,  when  I  observed,  a 
short  distance  from  me,  a  rude  hut  of  logs,  which 
gave  signs  of  occupation.  Associating  this  scene 
with  the  legend  of  the  mysterious  family,  I  felt  an 
uncontrollable  impulse  to  visit  the  rude  habitation 
and  its  inmates.  As  I  approached  the  dwelling  I 


48          THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 

heard   a  female  voice  of  exquisite  melodiousness, 
accompanied  by  a  harp,  singing — 

"  When  summer  flowers  are  weaving 

Their  perfume  wreaths  in  air, 
And  the  zephyr  wings  receiving 

The  love  gifts  gently  bear ; 
Then  memory's  spirit  stealing, 

Lifts  up  the  veil  she  wears, 
In  all  their  light  revealing 

The  loved  of  other  years. 

"  When  summer  stars  are  shining 

In  the  deep,  blue  midnight  sky, 
And  their  brilliant  rays  entwining, 

Weave  coronals  on  high ; 
When  the  fountain's  waves  are  singing 

In  tones  night  only  hears, 
Then  sweet  thoughts  waken,  bringing 

The  loved  of  other  years. 

"  The  flowers  around  me  glowing, 

The  midnight  stars'  pure  gleams, 
The  fountain's  ceaseless  flowing, 

Recalls  life's  fondest  dreams, 
Where  all  be  bright  in  heaven, 

And  tranquil  are  the  spheres, 
To  thee  sweet  thoughts  are  given, 

The  loved  of  other  years. 

"  The  interest  I  had  felt  was  now  intensified,  and 
immediately  upon  the  cessation  of  the  voice  and 
harp  I  rapped  at  the  door.  It  was  heard  and  an- 
swered by  a  gentle  voice,  bidding  me,  '  Come  in.' 
I  entered,  and  finding  but  a  single  occupant,  a 
young  lady,  made  as  though  I  would  leave  the 
room,  when  a  kind  but  emphatic,  '  Be  seated,' 
constrained  me  to  remain.  The  young  lady  in 
whose  presence  I  was  possessed  great  personal  at- 
tractions. Her  features  were  regular,  he  form  elas- 
tic and  graceful,  showing  that  no  common  blood 


THEIR   LEGENDS    AND    HISTORY,.  49 

flowed  through  her  veins.  An  irrepressible  desire 
seized  me  to  know  by  what  strange  mutation  of  for- 
tune one  so  gifted  should  have  been  impelled  to 
bury  herself  and  all  her  hopes  in  this  desolate  wil- 
derness. I  was  about  to  enter  into  conversation, 
with  the  view  of  eliciting  information  that  might 
give  me  a  clue  to  the  history  of  the  mysterious  be- 
ing, when  I  felt  myself  under  the  influence  of  a 
strange  spell.  In  a  few  moments  I  was  in  a  pro- 
found slumber.  How  long  I  slept  I  did  not  know, 
and  when  I  awoke  the  scene  was  wholly  changed. 
I  was  in  a  princely  mansion.  In  the  room  a  soli- 
tary light  was  gleaming.  The  windows  were 
draped  with  heavy  silken  curtains.  A  whisper  of 
leaves  and  the  murmur  of  a  fountain  were  heard 
coming  from  without.  Delicate  flowers,  arranged 
in  vases,  were  shedding  their  perfume  through  the 
room,  and  the  silver  lam))  shed  a  soft  arid  radiant 
light  on  every  object.  The  only  occupant  of  the 
room  besides  myself  was  a  young  lady  of  medium 
height,  pale  of  complexion,  standing,  statue-like, 
in  the  middle  of  the  room,  with  a  harp  in  her  hand. 
8 he  sang : 

"  Deep  hidden  in  the  bosom  lies 

A  talisman  of  magic  power, 
An  heirloom  borrowed  from  the  skies, 

For  man  in  his  first  sinless  hour, 
Inwoven  in  his  secret  heart 

By  some  kind,  pitying  angel's  hand, 
Eve,  Eden  saw  him  sad  depart 

A  wandering  exile  through  the  land. 
This,  when  all  other  gifts  took  wing, 

When  of  each  heavenly  gift  bereft, 
He  stood  a  doomed,  deserted  thing, 

From  the  great  moral  wreck  was  left — 
Was  left  to  light  the  lurid  gloom 
5 


50  THE   ROCKS   OF   DEER   CREEK. 

That  gathered  o'er  in  his  fall, 
To  burst,  to  brighten,  and  to  bloom 

O'er  mined  Eden,  Ere,  Earth — all, — 
Awakening  joys  that  ne'er  were  his 

In  all  their  matchless  pride  and  power, 
Until  all  other  hopes  of  bliss 

Fled  from  him.     In  that  angry  hour, 
When  Heaven  resumed  the  gifts  it  gaye, 

And  drove  him  forth  in  his  despair 
To  look  upon  his  future  grave, 

The  self-same  hand  was  ready  there 
As  when  it  plucked  the  fruit  for  him. 

She  touched  the  gem  his  bosom  bore, 
And  though  till  now  its  light  was  dim, 

A  glory  like  the  Cherubim 
It  from  that  magic  moment  wore. 

And  ever,  rmid  the  wrong  and  wrath 
Of  life,  there  beaineth  far  above 

The  darkness  dwelling  on  his  path, 
The  glory  gleam  of  woman's  love. 

"  Again  the  scene  changed.  I  was  in  the  depths 
of  a  dark  forest.  It  was  midday,  but  the  light  of 
the  sun  scarce  reached  me  at  the  spot  where  I  was 
standing— the  overhanging  branches  of  the  heavy- 
foliaged  trees  were  almost  impenetrable  to  its  rays. 
Of  the  time  when  I  left  the  princely  mansion  and 
its  accomplished  inmate  I  had  no  recollection,  nor 
how  I  reached  the  interior  of  the  forest.  I  saw  no 
road,  not  even  a  path,  by  which  I  could  have  entered 
it.  My  situation  perplexed  me  ;  indeed,  alarmed 
me.  For  the  first  time  in  my  life  I  saw  myself 
surrounded  by  a  network  of  curious  circumstances 
I  cuuld  not  comprehend.  My  intellect  failed  me  in 
the  perception  of  my  real  condition  ;  so  also  in  the 
apprehension  of  the  means  by  which  I  might  be 
relieved  from  what  seemed  to  me  a  hopeless  impris- 
onment in  the  unknown  wilderness.  The  anxieties 


THEIR   LEGENDS    AND    HISTORY.  51 

of  my  situation  awoke  me.  I  was  in  the  library  of 
my  friend  at  La  Grange.  Looking  at  the  clock 
upon  the  mantel,  I  found  that  I  had  been  asleep 
half  an  hour.  I  had  been  under  the  influence  of  a 
great  Enchantress." 


THE  AGED  TRAPPER,  HUNTER  AND  FISH- 
ERMAN OF  THE  INDIAN  CUPBOARD. 

THK  Indian  Cupboard  is  a  well-known  locality 
one  and  a-half  miles  below  the  Rocks  of  Deer  Creek 
and  one-fourth  mile  below  the  ancient  mill  now 
owned  by  heirs  of  the  late  J.  Bond  Preston,  Esq. 
The  Cupboard  is  a  cavern  entering  a  bold  and  pro- 
jecting rock  whose  base  is  washed  by  the  waters  of 
Deer  Creek.  Within  a  few  yards  of  this  rock  is 
the  home  of  Alexius,  the  noted  trapper,  hunter  and 
fisherman.  When  Alexius  first  saw  the  light  of 
day  is  not  known  by  the  writer  of  this  narrative, 
nor  is  it  important  to  the  interest  of  the  story  that 
it  should  be  known.  I  am  aware  that  ordinarily 
such  ignorance  might  be  interpreted  as  evidence  of 
want  of  interest  in  the  subject  of  the  story,  and 
perhaps  as  a  lack  of  appreciation  of  his  deeds. 
Such  a  judgment  would  do  essential  injustice  to  the 
hero,  and  such  he  was  in  the  truest  and  most  sig- 
nificant sense  of  that  term.  If  his  deeds  do  not 


52          THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 

rival  those  of  the  celebrated  Baron  Munchausen  in 
the  quality  of  exaggeration,  or  those  of  the  Arabian 
Nights  in  romantic  significance,  they  are  such  as  to 
rank  him  with  the  celebrities  of  the  time,  and  to 
entitle  him  to  a  place  on  the  historic  page.  The 
place  where  the  infantile  cries  of  Alexius  were  first 
heard  is  among  the  wild,  weird  scenes  of  Upper 
Deer  Creek,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Rocks  so  celebrated 
in  .story  and  in  song.  The  great-grandparents 
of  Alexius  were  from  the  Island  of  Madagascar,  in 
the  Indian  Ocean.  Their  migration  to  the  Ameri- 
can Continent  was  a  forced  one.  The  negroes  of 
Zululand,  South  Africa,  known  as  daring  and 
aggressive  warriors,  and  unscrupulous  as  to  the 
means  by  which  they  secured  their  ends,  under 
pretense  of  a  friendly  visit,  entered  Madagascar 
with  hostile  purpose,  and  attacking  their  unsuspect- 
ing and  unprepared  army,  defeated  them,  taking 
many  prisoners.  These  they  sold  to  Portuguese 
traders,  who,  in  turn,  transferred  them  to  English 
dealers  in  men.  Among  these  were  the  ancestors 
of  the  subject  of  my  story.  They  were  put  on 
board  ship,  and,  after  a  somewhat  tempestuous 
voyage  of  ten  months,  were  landed  at  Joppa,  then 
a  seaport  town  in  the  province  of  Maryland.  Hap- 
pily for  them  and  their  descendants,  they  were 
purchased  upon  their  arrival  in  America  by  a  hu- 
mane and  benevolent  gentleman  then  residing  in 
the  vicinity  of  Scott's  old  fields,  now  Bel  Air,  the 
county-seat  of  Harford. 

Before  proceeding  further  in  the  relation  of  my 
story,  I  will  state,  by  way  of  parenthesis,  that  the ' 
people  of  Madagascar  are  not  negroes.     They  arc 
copper-colored,  have  straight  black  hair,  and  lack 


THEIR   LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY.  53 

those  prominent  facial  features  which  belong  to  the 
African  race  proper.  They  were  sometimes  en- 
slaved, because  it  was  practicable  to  do  so,  and 
profitable  because  their  better  looks  made  their 
possession  more  desirable.  Enslaved,  they  inter- 
married with  the  inferior  race,  and  hence  but  few, 
if  any,  remain  of  unmixed  Island  blood. 

It  is  due  to  the  character  of  slaveholders  gener- 
ally of  that  early  period  in  the  history  of  our  Conti- 
nent, to  say  that  they  were  not  deficient  in  those 
qualities  that  were  needed  to  the  discharge  of  the 
duties  of  their  relations  as  masters.  Their  ser- 
vants— such  they  were  called — were  well  fed,  well 
clothed,  and  their  tasks,  unlike  those  of  Egyptian 
bondmen,  were  not  heavy.  To  them  was  imparted 
a  measure  of  education,  and  their  attendance  upon 
religious  service  was  encouraged.  In  their  early 
years  they  were  allowed  the  utmost  latitude  of  lib- 
erty. Basking  in  the  sun,  rolling  in  the  sand,  wad- 
ing in  the  water,  and  an  occasional  siesta,  consti- 
tuted chiefly  their  summer  employment ;  the  winter, 
in  the  ashes  by  the  blazing  hickory  fire,  the  occa- 
sional episode,  snow-balling  or  sliding  on  the  ice. 
The  only  fear  of  the  youthful  negro  was  of  his  irate 
mamma,  whose  habit  of  persistent  beatings  has  often 
suggested  the  inquiry,  "  Is  the  African  woman  des- 
titute of  sympathy  ? ' '  Many  a  negro  child  has  been 
shielded  from  the  cruel  treatment  of  its  mother  by 
the  authority  of  a  sympathetic  master  or  mistress. 
Instincts  are  hereditary,  and  though  they  may  be 
modified  by  time  and  circumstances,  often  survive 
in  their  original  character,  with  more  or  less  dis- 
tinctness, for  many  generations.  The  woman  in 
Africa  who  will  barter  her  child  for  gain,  in  America 


54          THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 

may  inflict  cruel  chastisements.  Alexius  was  for- 
tunate in  the  possession  of  his  Madagascan  mother, 
she  having  all  that  solicitude  for  her  offspring,  and 
exercising  that  maternal  care  which  insured  their 
comfort ;  and  having  in  his  mistress  a  lady  of  great 
benevolence  of  character  and  kindness  of  heart,  his 
youthful  life  was  happy. 

Alexius  developed  at  a  very  early  age  those  tastes 
and  qualities  which  have  made  him  so  celebrated  in 
the  annals  of  Deer  Creek  as  a  most  skillful  and 
successful  trapper,  hunter  and  fisherman.  Retiring 
in  his  nature,  he  loved  the  solitudes  of  the  forest, 
and  found  in  communion  with  its  occupants  the 
gratification  denied  by  the  common  pursuits  of  life. 
And  it  was  thus  in  his  association  with  birds  and 
fishes.  At  that  period  the  forests  of  Deer  Creek 
abounded  in  game,  and  its  waters  in  fish.  In  the 
woods  were  raccoons,  opossums,  ground-hogs,  wild- 
cats, and  smaller  game;  in  the  streams  fall-fish, 
perch,  eels,  trout  and  turtle.  The  favorite  game 
of  our  hunter  was  the  ground-hog,  or  wood-chuck, 
as  naturalists  call  it ;  and  many  are  the  wonderful 
and  marvelous  stories  told  of  his  adventures  with 
this  animal.  Like  a  skillful  hunter  as  he  was,  his 
first  effort  was  to  secure  their  confidence.  He  fre- 
quented their  burrows  and  made  their  acquaintance. 
He  had  the  peculiar  faculty  of  making  himself 
understood  by  them.  This  animal  is  not  alone  in 
its  susceptibility  to  education.  The  flea  has  been 
trained  to  know  the  voice  of  its  master,  and  to  be 
obedient  to  his  commands.  Unhappily  fur  the  con- 
liding  chuck,  the  motive  of  the  seemingly  friendly 
hunter  was  sinister  ;  he  smiled  only  to  betray,  and 
the  confidence  of  the  simple  chuck  was  his  destruc- 


THEIR   LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY.  55 

tion.  'Possum-hunting  was  an  exciting  pastime. 
In  the  woods  of  Rock  Ridge  and  contiguous  hills  he 
passed  much  time  in  this,  to  him,  pleasing  pursuit. 
His  hahit  was  to  leave  his  retreat  about  nightfall, 
taking  with  him  his  two  trusty  dogs,  Bell  and  Trav- 
eler. Once  on  a  trail,  they  followed  it  unerringly 
to  the  hiding-places  of  the  game,  which  were  usu- 
ally in  the  thick  boughs  of  some  lofty  tree,  or  in 
the  rocky  caves  with  which  the  ridges  abound. 
The  coon  treed,  the  hunter  ascended  the  tree  with 
almost  the  agility  of  the  squirrel,  and,  ascertaining 
the  position  of  the  game,  proceeded  to  dislodge  it. 
This  he  did  either  by  a  violent  shaking  of  the  limb, 
or  by  pushing  the  animal  from  his  perch  with  a  long 
and  heavy  pole.  The  coon  on  the  ground  was 
immediately  secured  by  the  dogs.  More  than 
once  the  hunter  narrowly  escaped  the  loss  of 
his  life  in  these  perilous  adventures,  and  he 
bears  to  this  day  on  his  hand  the  mark  of  the 
bite  of  an  enraged  coon  struggling  for  his  liber- 
ty. Want  of  space  forbids  the  enumeration  of 
the  many  thrilling  adventures  connected  with  his 
pursuit  of  game  in  the  forests.  In  the  water  he 
was  equally  successful.  Eels  of  enormous  length 
and  size  were  trophies  of  the  fisherman's  skill,  as 
also  turtles  of  great  bulk  and  wonderful  strength. 
Notwithstanding  the  asseveration  of  the  fisherman, 
whose  veracity  it  is  not  our  province  to  question, 
it  is  hard  to  believe  that  "  Big  Turtle  "  supported 
the  weight  of  a  man  of  one  hundred  and  sixty 
pounds,  and  carried  him  on  his  back  the  distance 
of  a  half-mile.  The  theory  of  Darwin — the  survival 
of  the  fittest — would  lead  us  to  look  for  animals  of 
larger  size  at  the  present  than  in  the  past,  and  there 


56  THE    ROCKS   OF   DEER   CREEK. 

is  the  remotest  possibility  that  this  trophy  of  our 
fisherman's  skill  was  one — the  last  survivor  possi- 
bly— of  a  family  that  had,  by  a  fortuitous  and  for- 
tunate concurrence  of  circumstances,  been  preserved 
from  the  power  of  all  trappers,  hunters  and  fisher- 
men, from  Nimrod  down  to  the  last  of  his  class  on 
Deer  Creek. 

Our  hunter  was  characterized  by  an  even  courage 
that  made  him  equal  to  emergencies  generally.  He 
was  never  known  to  exhibit  fear  in  contest  with  bird 
or  beast  or  fish.  It  was  different  as  to  a  gigantic 
snake,  a  habitue  of  the  hill  opposite  the  old  mill 
above  the  Cupboard.  This  snake  tl  was  twenty  ieet 
long  and  thick  as  a  man's  body.  "  It  is  conjectured 
that  it  was  of  foreign  origin,  or  was  of  the  Hairs- 
spring  species  that  in  very  late  times  so  excited  the 
people  of  that  section  of  Baltimore  county,  Md.  But 
whatever  may  be  the  opinion  of  the  present  genera- 
tion as  to  these  accounts  of  the  size  of  the  fauna  of 
the  past,  it  is  true  that  our  hero  was  remarkably 
successful  in  his  favorite  vocations.  And  now,  in 
his  old  age,  he  is  envied  by  the  younger  generation 
of  hunters,  trappers  and  fishermen.  He  may  be 
seen  occasionally  bearing  homeward,  as  a  trophy  of 
his  skill,  a  fat  "  chuck,"  and  often  in  the  early 
spring  or  summer  morning  drawing  from  the  waters 
of  Deer  Creek  the  largest  fall-fish  or  the  longest  eel. 
The  "  coon  "  and  the  "  'possum  "  are  now  secure  in 
their  retreats,  for  age  has  incapacitated  him  for  those 
exertions  necessary  to  their  successful  pursuit. 

A  new  day  has  dawned.  An  intensive  civiliza- 
tion, eager  for  great  achievements,  has  decreed  that 
the  hills  and  dales  of  Upper  Deer  Creek  shall  no 
longer  rest  in  the;  %  comparative  solitudes.  The 


THEIR   LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY.  57 

tramroad  and  the  steam  engine,  with  their  enormous 
capacity  of  transportation,  are  about  to  substitute 
the  common  modes  of  travel  and  trade.  The  change 
will  bring  an  increased  population,  and  insure  the 
erection  of  factories  and  mills.  The  theatres  of  the 
solitary  wanderings  and  walkings  and  skillful 
achievements  of  our  hunter,  trapper  and  fisherman 
will  re-echo  with  the  whirr  of  the  wheel  and  the 
sound  of  the  hammer.  A  new  generation,  with  its 
real  and  artificial  wants,  will  take  the  place  of  the 
old,  content  in  its  enjoyment  of  the  common  modes 
of  life. 

The  Indian  Cupboard,  no  longer  tenantable,  has 
been  abandoned.  A  common  country  road  has 
marred  its  beauties,  and  soon  the  mighty  and 
mysterious  dynamite  will  reduce  its  proportions 
still  more.  Reluctant  to  leave  a  spot  endeared  to 
him  by  so  many  recollections  of  the  past,  the  subject 
of  our  narrative  is  building  of  stone  and  wood,  un- 
der the  shadow  of  the  Copper  Rock,  a  habitation 
conformable  to  the  style  of  modern  times,  where,  as 
a  partial  compensation  for  the  great  loss  he  has  sus- 
tained, the  exclusion  of  the  employments  and  pleas- 
ures of  the  past,  he  will  view  the  mysterious 
stranger  as  it  passes  by,  laden  with  the  productions 
of  the  earth  and  the  fruits  of  human  skill. 

The  story  I  have  told  is  not  of  one  reared  in  afflu- 
ence, a  child  of  fortune,  but  of  a  poor  man,  who  has 
illustrated  the  dignity  of  manhood  in  the  faithful 
discharge  of  the  duties  of  life  as  he  understood  them. 
And  there  are  those  who  have  owed  to  him  the 
preservation  of  their  lives  from  a  watery  grave  in 
the  sometimes  excessively  swollen  and  turbulent 
waters  of  Deer  Creek  ;  and  many  more  for  assist- 


58          THE  ROCKS  OP  DEER  CREEK. 

ances  and  courtesies  that  ought  not  to  be  forgotten. 
To  that  class  of  the  community  who  worship  only 
the  great  we  have  no  apology  to  offer  for  this  re- 
membrance of  the  humble.  We  find  in  such  recol- 
lection an  illustration  of  the  well-known  adage, 
"  Act  well  your  part ;  there  all  the  honor  lies." 


THE  MINE  OLD  FIELDS  ;   OR,  THE  GATH- 
ERING OF  THE  WITCHES. 

Two  miles  east  portheast  of  the  Rocks  are  the 
Mine  Old  Fields.  This  locality,  though  the  Ara- 
bia Petrea  of  this  section  of  Harford  County,  is 
not  without  a  certain  degree  of  interest,  and  may 
be  catalogued  with  the  many  curious  and  attractive 
natural  objects  of  the  neighborhood  of  the  Rocks. 
It  is  an  elevated  plateau  of  considerable  area,  abound- 
ing in  iron  ore,  chrome  and  other  minerals.  Much 
of  the  rock  is  soapstone  of  a  superior  quality. 
From  this  stone  the  Susquehannocks  and  other  In- 
dians of  the  vicinity  made  their  culinary  vessels. 
Occasionally  there  is  found  a  pot  or  other  relic  which 
is  treasured  as  a  souvenir  of  the  distant  past.  These 
Fields,  as  they  are  called,  have  never  produced 
wheat,  or  corn,  or  other  cereals,  but  did  for  a  time 
yield  an  abundant  harvest  of  iron  ore,  which,  being 
smelted,  was  manufactured  into  various  articles  that 
the  necessities  of  civilized  life  demand,  and  they 


THEIR   LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY.  59 

will,  doubtless,  upon  the  completion  of  the  Bail- 
road,  yield  again  their  valuable  treasures. 

A  tradition  exists  that  on  this  territory  was  found, 
many  years  ago,  a  rich  mine  of  lead  ;  that  it  was 
known  to  the  first  Mr.  Rigdon,  settled  near  by  on 
land  now  in  the  occupancy  of  some  of  his  decend- 
ants.  He  was,  in  his  day,  a  great  hunter,  and  ob- 
tained there,  it  is  said,  all  the  lead  he  used.  There 
is  a  similar  tradition  that  in  the  immediate  vicinity 
of  the  Hocks  there  is  a  gold  mine,  known  to  the  Sus- 
quehannocks,  the  original  inhabitants,  the  knowl- 
edge of  which  was  communicated  by  them  to  some 
white  man  who  visited  the  locality  at  an  early  day. 
The  contractor  who  made  his  way  by  powder,  and 
crowbar  and  pick  through  the  formidable  rock,  in 
the  hill  immediately  beyond  the  creek,  above  the 
mill,  found  in  the  rock  a  substance  bearing  so  strong 
a  resemblance  to  gold  that  he  conveyed  a  Urge 
specimen  to  the  shanty.  There  it  was  for  a  time  to 
be  examined  by  the  curious.  But  like  the  discover- 
ers of  gold  at  the  settlement  of  Jamestown,  Vir- 
ginia, expectants  were  doomed  to  disappointment. 
The  Mine  Old  Fields  do  have  iron  and  chrome,  and 
perhaps  lead. 

Like  other  portions  of  this  far-famed  section  of 
Harford,  the  Mine  Old  Fields  have  a  mythical  his- 
tory. The  story  of  the  gathering  there  by  moon- 
light of  the  witches  to  practice  their  mysterious 
rites,  has  come  down  to  us  of  the  present  generation. 
We  shall  relate  it  substantially  as  it  was  told  to  an 
aged  citizen  by  that  venerable  hermit,  whose  roman- 
tic and  touching  history  is  written  in  this  book. 
That  the  story  may  be  properly  appreciated,  it  will 
be  necessary  to  preface  it  by  some  preliminary 
statements. 


60  THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 

Many  persons  believe  not  only  in  the  power  of 
the  devil  to  assume  a  corporeal  form,  hut  also  in  his 
capacity  of  acting  injuriously  upon  mankind  through 
the  instrumentality  of  others.  Baxter,  the  author 
of  the  "Saint's  Rest,"  shared  this  opinion  with 
many  of  the  wisest  and  best  of  England  in  an  age 
of  culture  and  refinement.  The  same  credulous 
tone  of  mind  existed  in  New  England  in  its  early 
history.  It  is  true  that  at  that  period  belief  in 
witchcraft  -ind  other  diabolical  agencies  were  popu- 
lar delusions  which  were  rapidly  disappearing  from 
the  world,  but  such  men  as  Cotton  Mather  and  the 
intelligent  inhabitants  of  Palem  were  always  ready 
to  sustain  their  belief  in  such  superstitions  both 
from  holy  writ  and  philosophy.  It  was  an  excess 
of  the  imagination,  affecting  not  only  the  stupid 
and  the  dull,  but  also  the  highest  wrought  minds. 
The  early  residents  of  our  vicinage  were  a  simple 
and  enthusiastic  people,  primitive  in  their  manners, 
and  were  doubtless  affected  by  the  sentiments  of 
their  more  pretentious  fellow  citizens  northeast  of 
them.  The  Puritan,  then  as  now,  despite  the  pre- 
judice and  repugnancy  felt  toward  him,  singularly 
impressed  his  views  and  opinions  upon  others.  In 
the  existence  of  witches  and  other  malevolent  beings 
a*id  their  power  of  harm,  many  of  our  ancestors 
had  the  most  implicit  faith.  They  saw  spirits  and 
witches ;  to  them  devils  appeared  ;  strange  sights 
were  seen,  strange  sounds  were  heard.  The  Jack 
o'  the  Lantern  was  recognized  as  a  personality 
whose  every  purpose  was  evil,  and  whose  following 
certainly  brought  perplexity,  and  even  peril  of  life. 
The  Fay,  though  extremely  diminutive  in  size,  was 
greatly  feared,  not  so  much  on  account  of  its  physi- 


THEIR   LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY.  61 

cal  ability  to  do  harm  as  of  a  supposed  moral  power 
of  evil.  The  potent  words  were  spell,  charm,  witch- 
craft. 

Why  witches  practice  incantation  on  moonlight 
nights  may  possibly  be  explained  on  philosophical 
principles.  There  is  no  peculiarity,  that  we  are 
aware  of,  in  the  visual  organs  of  a  witch.  The  singu- 
lar construction  of  the  eye  of  an  owl  or  an  Albinos 
adapts  their  sight  to  moonlight.  The  retinas  of 
witches  are  suited  to  the  light  of  day.  'Tis  not  that ; 
'tis  this,  perhaps.  The  moon  is  idiosyncratic ; 
psychologically,  she  is  peculiar,  and  by  the  well- 
known  law  of  sympathy  impresses  her  own  nature 
upon  the  nature  of  man.  It  must  be  so,  or  else  the 
word  lunacy  would  not  have  found  a  place  in  our 
lexicography.  Other  reasons  why  the  witches  were 
wont  to  assemble  in  the  Mine  Old  Fields  on  moon- 
light nights  are  apparent.  They  had  light.  Be- 
sides, the  fears  of  the  people,  heightened  by  moon- 
light, were  a  defence  to  them  as  strong  as  the  walls 
of  a  fortified  city.  The  witches  were  there,  and  there 
they  practiced  their  dark  rites.  Around  the  blazing 
fire  and  the  boiling  caldron  they,  with  joined  hands, 
walked  during  the  hours  of  moonlight — "  black 
spirits  arid  white,  red  spirits  and  gray," — singing  : 

"Mingle,  mingle,  mingle, 
You  that  mingle  may," 

and  invoking  the  spirits  of  power,  ceased  their 
orgies  only  when  there  came  to  them  the  gifts  of 
power,  in  the  exercise  of  which  they  satanically  de- 
lighted. The  demonstration  of  the  fact  that  they 
who  gathered  in  the  Mine  Old  Fields  by  moonlight 
were  witches,  was  that  people  in  the  vicinity  became 
6 


62          THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 

sick  in  all  sorts  of  ways,  falling  into  strange  fits, 
crawling  under  beds  and  into  cupboards,  barking 
like  dogs,  inewing  like  cats,  bleating  like  sheep,  and 
lowing  like  cattle.  The  doctors  were  sent  for,  and 
they  declared  that  their  patients  were  bewitched. 
All  were  superstitious.  All  believed  in  diabolical 
agency.  Terror  and  consternation  were  in  every 
heart. 

Living  at  that  day  on  Deer  Creek,  one  mile  east 
of  the  Mine  Old  FieMs,  in  an  humble  dwelling,  was 
an  aged  woman,  whose  only  misfortune — if  such  it 
were — was  that  she  was  poor  and  infirm.  The 
other  occupants  of  the  hut  were  an  aged  Indian 
woman,  one  of  the  very  few  who  remained  after  her 
people  had  migrated  westward,  and  a  young  man  of 
the  class  of  the  "innocents,"  as  the  Swiss  mountain- 
eers benevolently  name  such  unfortunates  as  are 
not  endowed  at  birth  with  the  sana  mens.  Albert, 
as  he  was  always  tenderly  called  by  his  aged  moth- 
er, willingly  labored  to  provide  sustenance  for  the 
household,  and  the  Indian  woman,  Maggy,  having 
been  taught  the  art  of  weaving,  contributed  also  by 
her  industry  and  skill  to  the  support  of  the  family. 
Of  the  aged  matron  of  the  lowly  household  it  might 
have  been  said,  "  She  that  is  a  widow  indeed,  and 
desolate,  trusting  in  God,  and  continueth  in  suppli- 
cation night  and  day  ;"  and  of  her  assistant,  "  She 
hath  done  what  she  could."  An  Eden  it  was.  But 
the  cruelties  of  suspicion  were  soon  to  be  felt  by 
the  hitherto  unsuspecting  and  confiding  household. 
Trouble  came  from  an  unexpected  source. 

Father  G.,  a  prominent  man  of  the  neighbor- 
hood, in  conversation  had  said,  "  Tliere  have  been 
wizards  and  witches  in  all  times,"  and  that  pious 


THEIR  LEGENDS   AND   HISTORY.  63 

and  learned  man,  Cotton  Mather,  says,  ".That  if 
all  the  spectral  appearances  and  molestations  of  evil 
angels,  and  tricks  of  necromancy,  and  bodily  appa- 
ritions of  Satan  and  his  imps,  could  he  collected 
and  counted,  that  are  daily  and  nightly  going  on, 
all  righteous  and  goodly  men's  hair  would  stand 
on  ends  with  horror."  "  In  these  parts,"  con- 
tinued Father  G.,  "are  infernal  doings,"  and 
pointing  significantly  toward  the  cabin  which  the 
unsuspecting  were  abiding  in  peace,  ominously  said, 
"  Satan  may  now  abide  there."  That  was  sufficient 
to  create  in  all  minds  a  suspicion  that  very  soon 
ripened  into  a  conviction,  that  the  aged  and  decrepit 
occupant  of  the  cottage,  as,  perhaps,  also  her  faith- 
ful assistant,  dealt  with  familiar  spirits,  and  that 
much,  if  not  all,  the  strange  evils  which  afflicted 
the  community  were  to  be  attributed  to  their  ma- 
chinations. 

On  the  morning  of  the  following  day  the  former 
habitation  of  the  widow  was  but  a  pile  of  smoking 
ashes.  The  people  said,  "The  wretches  who  made 
a  compact  with  Satan,  and  inflicted  the  evils  we 
suffer,  have  perished.  Give  God  the  glory." 

From  the  Mine  Old  Fields  the  witches  have  de- 
parted. Their  unhallowed  rites  have  ceased ;  the 
innocent  are  at  rest.  And  Father  G.  has,  we  hope, 
expiated  his  great  wrong  in  the  light  of  a  knowl- 
edge free  from  cruel  suspicion. 


64  THE    ROCKS   OF   DEER   CREEK. 


THE  FALLING  BRANCH  ;  OR,  THE  CAP- 
TURED BRIDE. 

EMPTYING  into  Deer  Creek,  three  miles  above  the 
Rocks,  is  Falling  Branch.  It  is  so  called  from  the 
fact  that  a  mile  or  more  above  its  mouth  its  waters 
fall  from  a  rock  twenty-five  or  thirty  feet  in  height, 
forming  a  miniature  Niagara,  which,  with  the 
picturesque  and  romantic  surroundings,  constitute 
a  most  pleasing  attraction.  To  some  this  curiosity 
is  more  attractive  than  the  Rocks,  nature  not  dis- 
playing herself  in  such  bold  and  massive  forms,  but 
exceeding  in  picturesque  beauty.  It  is  a  wild  scene, 
primitive  almost  as  when  the  wild  man  speared  the 
speckled  trout  that  abounded  in  its  waters,  or  shot 
the  swift  deer  that  frequented  the  adjacent  forests. 
Here  the  attention  of  the  visitor  is  also  curiously 
drawn  to  a  series  of  stone  steps  that  lead  from  the 
base  of  the  rock  over  which  the  waters  fall  to  its 
summit.  These  steps  were  seemingly  cut  by  the 
hand  of  man.  If  so,  by  whom  and  by  what  instru- 
ments? The  Susquehannocks,  who  dwelt  by  the 
locality  when  discovered  by  the  white  man,  were 
men  of  large  size  and  of  much  strength,  but  could 
physical  strength  so  handle  the  stone  axe  or  hatchet 
as  to  make  the  achievement  possible?  If  human 
ingenuity  and  labor  constructed  the  steps,  it  may 
have  been  done  by  that  previous  race  whose  instru- 
ments of  labor  were  of  copper  or  iron,  or  by  the 
present  race,  to  whom  invention  has  supplied  such 
instruments  in  their  more  perfect  forms. 

Within  fifteen  or  twenty  yards  of  the  falls  and 


THEIR   LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY.  65 

directly  opposite  them  are  the  remains  of  a  mill  and 
a  dwelling-house,  the  former  abode  of  the  miller. 
Why  the  immediate  contiguity  of  those  build- 
ings to  the  ialls?  Was  the  builder  and  occupier  a 
man  of  romantic  turn  of  mind?  Appreciating  the 
scene,  and  charmed  by  the  music  of  the  falling 
waters,  were  these  the  motives  that  prompted  him 
to  fix  his  residence  in  this  wild  spot?  It  would  be 
pleasant  to  think  so,  but  sadly  for  our  imaginings, 
the  suspicion  of  utility  and  economy  is  suggested. 
His  nearness  to  the  falls  obviated  the  necessity  of 
building  a  dam  of  perishable  material,  or  the  digging 
of  a  race,  or  the  construction  of  a  trunk  more  than 
a  few  feet  in  length.  Wise,  worldly  wise,  was  Isaac 
Jones  in  his  day  and  generation.  But  for  aught  we 
know,  in  the  heart  of  that  plain  man  who  patiently 
watched  the  hopper  in  the  years  long  gone,  when 
northern  Harford  was  a  comparative  wilderness,  and 
the  progenitors  of  the  pretentious  race  of  the  pres- 
ent were  a  plain  folk  without  ambition  to  be  great, 
there  may  have  been  the  highest  and  the  subtliest 
appreciation  of  nature  in  her  sublime  and  beautiful 
moods,  and  a  susceptibility  to  art  that  brought  to 
him  the  knowledge  of  that  mysterious  law — a  law 
operative  in  the  realms  of  spirit  and  matter  equally, 
— which  harmonizes  the  creations  of  the  made  with 
the  works  of  the  Maker.  The  artist-born  builds  not 
a  high  house  in  a  diminutive  and  contracted  valley, 
nor  a  low  one  on  a  high  hill  overlooking  an  extended 
plain.  These  are  but  few  of  the  many  fitnesses  of 
things  perceived  by  the  man  whom  God  has  created 
great  in  his  appreciation  of  the  harmonies  of  nature. 
Almost  a  demonstration  of  the  possession  of  this 
quality  is  the  row  of  Lombardy  poplars,  now  in 


66  THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 

decay,  that  were  planted  in  front  of  the  dwelling, 
which,  with  the  native  forest  trees  and  rocks  and 
cataract  and  rapid  river,  constituted  a  scene  of  sur- 
passing attractiveness. 

The  Falling  Branch  owes  its  chief  attraction  to 
the  story  of  the  Captured  Bride,  which,  though 
confessedly  legendary  and  mythical,  is  not  without 
a  certain  degree  of  interest,  especially  to  persons  of 
much  romantic  susceptibility.  Arlotto  was  the  only 
daughter  of  a  gentleman  of  fortune,  whose  home 
was  in  the  vicinity  of  Hull,  England.  The  attrac- 
tions of  her  person  and  the  fascination  of  her  man- 
ners, added  to  a  superior  mental  and  moral  culture, 
brought  to  her  presence  many  admirers.  Among 
them  was  an  officer  of  the  English  Army.  Young, 
handsome,  accomplished,  brave,  the  scion  of  a  noble 
family,  in  all  respects  worthy  of  her  whose  qual- 
ities of  mind  and  heart  had  so  strongly  attracted 
him,  his  suit  was  encouraged,  and  after  a  proper 
interval  of  time,  they  were  wedded.  The  church, 
or  rather  cathedral,  in  which  the  nuptials  were 

celebrated,  was 

^ 

"A  dim  and  mighty  Minster  of  old  times! 
A  temple  shadowy  with  remembrance 
Of  the  majestic  past." 

Everything  about  it  told  of  a  race 

41 that  nobly,  fearlessly, 

In  their  heart's  worship  poured  forth  a  wealth  of  love." 

There,  under  its  fretted  roof,  and  in  the  midst  of  its 
wrought  coronals  of  ivy,  and  vine,  and  leaves,  and 
sculptured  rose — '*the  teriderest  image  of  mortal- 
ity"— the  light  which  streamed  through  arch  and 


TI1EIR   LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY.  67 

aisle  in  harmony  with  all ;  that  dim,  religious  light, 
which  is  a  reminder  of  the  past — of  the  dim,  the 
shadowy,  the  heroic  past — there,  in  the  select 
assemhly  of  the  high-born,  they  pledged  each  to 
other  their  troth,  and  were  by  the  aged  and  vener- 
able priest  pronounced  man  and  wife.  Retiring 
from  the  church,  they  were  followed  by  the  aged 
minister  and  his  assistants,  singing  a  recessional 
hymn,  accompanied  by  the  organ,  the  flood  of  its 
harmony  bearing  up  on  its  high  waves  their  voices 
attuned  to  the  praise  of  God.  Such  was  the  mar- 
riage scene. 

The  past  is  always  suggestive  of  the  future.  The 
memories  of  the  past,  like  dim  processions  of  a 
dream,  are  associated  with  visions  of  the  future, 
though  indistinct  as  dreams  that  ic  sink  in  twilight 
depths  away."  Arlotto  passed  from  the  altar 
happy,  indeed,  in  the  sense  of  the  love  of  her  now 
adored  husband,  but  not  without  thoughts  tinged 
with  sadness.  Apprehension  of  coming  sorrows 
was  the  shadow  that  fell  upon  her  pathway  so  soon. 
"  Coming  events  " — sorrowful  and  pleasant  alike — 
"  cast  their  shadows  before."  A  few  days  after 
the  marriage  the  young  officer  was  ordered  to  rejoin 
his  regiment,  then  at  Portsmouth,  about  to  embark 
for  America.  This  summons  was  the  interpretation, 
in  part,  of  the  mysterious  revelations  that  mingled 
with  her  present  joys  fears  of  future  evils. 

"Even  so  the  dark  and  bright  will  kiss; 
The  sunniest  things  throw  brightest  shade, 
And  there  is  even  a  happiness 
That  makes  the  heart  afraid." 

The  New  World  was  at  this  period  a  theatre  for 


68  THE   ROCKS   OF   DEER   CREEK. 

the  struggles  of  giants.  France  and  England  were 
contending  for  the  mastery,  and  the  stake  was  a 
continent,  with  all  its  possibilities  of  wealth  and 
power.  So  desperate  was  the  conflict,  and  of  such 
magnitude  was  the  issue,  that  each  party  was 
obliged  to  avail  itself  of  all  its  resources.  To  the 
place  of  battle,  so  full  of  peril  to  the  participants, 
the  youthful  officer  would  have  gone  alone.  He 
was  unwilling  that  his  bride  should  be  subjected  to 
the  privations  incident  to  warfare,  and  to  the  perils 
always  attending  it,  greater  in  this  case  because  of 
the  character  of  the  foe.  The  savages  were  gener- 
ally the  allies  of  the  French.  Yielding  to  her  en- 
treaties, he  consented  that  she  should  accompany 
him. 

Arriving  in  America,  the  regiment  to  which  the 
officer  belonged  was  detached  to  form  a  part  of  the 
army  then  being  raised  by  the  governors  of  Massa- 
chusetts and  Connecticut,  and  designed  to  operate 
against  the  French  and  Indians,  who  in  large  force 
were  threatening  the  borders  of  their  respective  prov- 
inces. In  a  battle  fought  soon  after  his  entrance 
upon  the  campaign,  the  young  officer  was  wounded, 
and  left  upon  the  field  as  dead.  Arlotto,  imme- 
diately upon  the  cessation  of  the  conflict,  made  her 
way  to  the  ensanguined  field,  and  after  a  patient 
and  anxious  search  found  her  yet  living  husband. 
The  dying  sufficiently  recovered  to  recognize  her 
whose  presence  was  the  only  earthly  solace  left  to 
him.  A  few  words,  with  difficulty  uttered,  were 
expressive  of  the  tenderness  and  strength  of  his 
affection.  Arlotto  hoped.  How  delusive  that  hope  1 

"A  moment  more  and  she 
Knew  the  fullness  of  her  woe  at  last ! 


THEIR   LEGENDS   AND   HISTORY.  69 

One  shriek  the  forests  heard— and  mute  she  lay 
And  cold;  yet  clasping  still  the  precious  clay 
To  her  scarce  heaving  breast." 

Awaking  from  what  was  less  than  death  and  more 
than  sleep,  Arlotto  became  conscious  of  the  presence 
of  a  dusky  form  bending  with  seeming  sympathy 
over  her  prostrate  body.  It  was  an  aged  Indian 
warrior,  who,  taking  her  tenderly  by  the  hand, 
bade  her  arise,  and  by  further  signs  indicated  his 
desire  that  she  should  follow  him.  Toward  the 
setting  sun  they  journeyed  slowly  for  some  days  ; 
then  south-eastward  until  they  reached  the  imme- 
diate vicinity  of  the  Falling  Branch.  There  was 
the  home  of  her  captor,  a  lone  cabin  in  the  woods, 
within  hearing  of  the  plunging  waters  of  the  cata- 
ract. The  Indian  woman  in  whose  care  she  was 
placed,  seemingly  won  by  "a  form  so  desolately 
fair/'  or  touched  by  the  remembrance  of  some  deep 
sorrow,  manifested  an  unwonted  interest  in  the  cap- 
tive, and  cared  for  her  with  all  the  tenderness  and 
solicitude  of  a  mother.  The  aged  warrior  and  his 
wife  had  seen  a  daughter  go  to  the  land  of  spirits, 

' '  And  ever  from  that  time  her  fading  mien 
And  voice,  like  winds  of  summer,  soft  and  low, 
Had  haunted  their  dim  years." 

And  fancying  that  they  saw  in  their  captive  a  re- 
semblance to  their  only  child,  whose  early  death 
had  thrown  upon  their  pathway  heavy  shadows, 
their  hearts,  "  with  all  their  wealth  of  love,"  were 
touched  by  the  sorrows  of  her  to  whom  was  left  only 
the  memories  of  the  past.  In  the  forest  was  no 
temple  erected  by  human  hands  dedicated  to  the 
Sufferer  of  Calvary.  It  was  a  void  waste,  in  which 


70          THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 

the  sound  of  the  church-going  bell  was  not  heard  ; 
nor  priest  nor  altar  was  there.  Yet  in  the  silent 
majesty  of  the  deep  woods,  and  in  the  presence  of 
the  silver  brook  which  pours  from  its  full  laver  the 
white  cascade,  was  more  than  the  spirit  of  poetry 
which  dwells  amid  such  scenes.  The  spirit  of  the 
Holy  One  was  there,  and  valley  and  brook,  and  cas- 
cade and  deep  woods  and  everlasting  hills,  and  the 
green  trees,  were  a  grand  minster  at  the  altars  of 
which  the  devout  could  worship  and  the  sorrowing 
find  relief.  To  this  temple  and  to  these  altars  in 
the  green  wood,  by  the  side  of  babbling  streams,  in 
the  sunlight  and  the  stars'  bright  gleams, the  sufferer 
went,  and  thither  she  led  her  captors,  and  there  she 
taught  them  to  listen  to  the  voice  of  Him  whose 
presence  is  the  glory  of  all  temples  and  of  all  altars. 

The  harp-string  too  strongly  tensioned  breaks. 
Worn  with  grief  and  hopeless  of  relief,  Arlotto 
wasted,  and  when  autumn's  last  sigh  was  heard, 
and  the  winter's  blast,  in  the  first  days  of  spring  ; 
when  "  sound  and  odors  with  the  breezes  play 
whispering  of  spring-time/'  bore  to  her  couch  life's 
farewell  sweetness,  then  she  was  passing  away  to 
that  solemnly  beautiful  sleep,  that  deep  stillness 
which  falls  on  the  silent  face  of  the  dead. 

Arlotto's  life  work  was  ended  ;  its  great  purposes 
accomplished.  In  the  depths  of  the  forest,  within 
hearing  of  the  murmuring  waters  of  the  Falling 
Branch,  in  God's  acre  she  sleeps,  and  by  her  side 
her  foster  father  and  mother.  In  God's  acre  they 
rest,  and 

"Into  its  furrows  shall  we  all  be  cast, 

In  the  sure  faith  that  we  shall  rise  again 
At  the  great  harvest,  when  the  archangel's  blast 
Shall  winnow,  like  a  fan,  the  chaff  and  grain. 


THEIR   LEGENDS   AND   HISTORY.  71 

"Then  shall  the  good  stand  in  immortal  bloom, 
'  In  the  fair  gardens  of  that  second  birth ; 
And  each  bright  blossom  mingle  its  perfume 
With  that  of  flowers  which  never  bloomed  on  earth." 


THE  EAGLE. 

"He  clasps  the  crags  with  hooked  hands; 
Close  to  the  sun  in  lonely  lands, 
Ringed  with  the  azure  world  he  stands, 
The  wrinkled  sea  beneath  him  crawls; 
He  watches  from  his  mountain  walls, 
And  like  a  thunderbolt  he  falls." 

Some  yards  above  the  Saloon  at  the  Kocks  and 
under  the  hill,  there  lived  in  a  small  cabin  a  man 
by  the  name  of  Cully,  the  father  of  Arch  Cully,  so 
well  known  in  his  day  by  the  residents  of  Rock 
Ridge  and  its  vicinity.  At  that  early  period  the 
Rocks  and  their  surroundings  were  in  almost  their 
original  wildness,  unaffected  by  the  arts  and  appli- 
ances of  civilized  life.  The  axe  of  the  woodman 
might  have  been  heard  now  and  then,  but  no  house 
other  than  the  cabin  had  been  erected,  and  no  forge 
or  furnace  to  mar  the  scene. 

It  was  wash-day  to  the  aged  matron  of  the  hut, 
and  while  engaged  in  the  necessary  vocation,  she 
heard  the  crtes  of  the  chickens  and  the  excited  bark- 
ings of  the  dog  without.  An  eagle,  whose  nest, 
with  young,  was  on  the  summit  of  the  opposite 


72          THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 

Rock,  had  swooped  down  from  her  eyrie,  and  seized 
with  its  talons  one  of  the  chickens.  The  little  dog, 
true  to  its  instincts,  hastened  to  the  rescue,  and 
chicken,  and  dog,  and  eagle  were  soon  engaged  in 
earnest  contest.  The  eagle  was  likely  to  succeed  in 
her  purpose,  when  the  old  lady,  grasping  her  beetle, 
ran  to  the  rescue,  and  striking  the  eagle  a  deadly 
blow,  carried  it  in  triumph  to  the  cottage. 

The  eagles,  like  the  original  human  inhabitants, 
pressed  by  the  presence  of  civilized  man,  have  sought 
their  eyries  on  more  distant  and  secluded  heights. 
Occasionally  one  may  be  seen  hovering  about  the 
summits  of  the  Rocks,  as  if  curious  to  observe  the 
past  homes  of  its  progenitors. 


THE  WITCH  RABBIT. 

AMONG  the  hills  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Rocks  was 
many  years  ago  a  remarkable  rabbit.  Tradit  on 
tells  us  that  it  was  of  the  size  of  a  Jack  Rabbit, 
that  well-known  habitant  of  the  West,  though  not 
of  the  same  species.  The  hunters  of  those  early 
times  sought  by  trap  and  snare  to  secure  it,  but 
without  success.  Many  a  charge  from  musket  and 
shot-gun  and  rifle  was  directed  toward  it  fruitlessly. 
The  opinion  of  our  simple  fathers  was,  that  the 
body  of  tfmt  rabbit  was  the  habitation  of  a  witch, 
and  in  solemn  conference  they  resolved  that  it  could 


TIIEER   LEGENDS    AND   HISTORY.  73 

be  slain  by  a  silver  bullet  only.  The  scarcity  of  the 
precious  metal  prevented  the  making  of  the  problem- 
atical experiment,  and  hence  the  possessed  animal 
was  left  to  wander  at  will.  For  many  years  it  has 
not  been  seen.  The  witch  may  have  taken  another 
habitation,  or  assumed  another  form.  The  en- 
lightenment of  the  community  has  thrown  doubt 
upon  the  story,  once  so  implicitly  believed.  People 
now-a-days  suspect  much  of  the  past  to  be  mythical, 
as  it  doubtless  is,  but  subjecting  everything  to  a 
mathematical  test,  they  may  forget,  as  my  credulous 
friend  suggests,  that  there  are  more  things  in  heaven 
and  earth  than  are  dreamed  of  in  their  philosophy. 
Candor  compels  us  to  say  that  in  our  philosophy 
there  are  no  witches  save  those  bewitching  ones 
whose  manners  captivate  the  susceptible  youths  of 
the  stronger  sex. 


THE  BIG  SNAKE. 

THE  existence  of  a  species  of  snakes  of  large  size 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Rocks  has  been  reported 
for  many  years.  Mr.  William  Jeffrey,  an  aged 
citizen  of  Bel  Air,  informed  us  that  the  track  of  a 
snake  "broad  as  a  cart  wheel"  was  pointed  out  to 
him  by  his  father  seventy  years  ago  ;  that  thirty, 
and  again  fifty,  years  thereafter,  the  serpent  itself 
was  seen.  The  Ancient  Trapper  avers  that  in  his 
7 


74          THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 

youth  he  learned  from  a  reliahle  source  of  a  snake 
of  extraordinary  size,  whose  home  was  in  the  hill 
opposite  the  Ancient  Mill.  By  the  incredulous,  the 
story  was  considered  doubtful,  or  supposed  to  be  an 
exaggeration,  but  very  recently  several  persons 
whose  truthfulness  is  not  questioned,  have  declared 
that  they  saw  the  monstrous  reptile.  The  visitor 
to  the  Rocks  need  have  no  fear,  as  the  animal  is 
most  likely  to  shun  the  presence  of  man.  And  it  is 
probable  that  the  blasting  of  rocks  in  the  making  of 
the  Railroad  will  induce  his  majesty  to  seek  another 
domain  in  which  to  enjoy  his  hitherto  acknowledged 
supremacy  over  the  beasts  that  crawl* 


WHITSUNTIDE. 

FOR  many  years  the  Rocks  were  a  resort  at  Whit- 
suntide. The  best  people  of  the  country  patronized 
the  festival.  It  was  a  favorable  time  for  making 
acquaintance  and  cementing  friendships.  And  I 
suppose  that  then,  as  now,  on  festal  days,  Cupid 
was  present,  armed  cap-a-pie,  and  that  his  arrows 
failed  not  of  many  a  worthy  mark.  An  estimable 
lady,  who  died  a  few  years  ago,  living  to  be  nearly 
one  hundred  years  of  age,  was  wont  to  speak  with 
great  interest  of  her  visit  to  the  Rocks  of  Deer 
Creek  at  Whitsuntide,  when  she  was  a  little  girl. 
Her  memory  of  the  delicate  and  refined  attentions 


THEIR   LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY.  75 

of  Colonel  John  Streett,  a  prominent  gentleman  of 
Harford  county,  in  those  early  days,  was  very  dis- 
tinct, and  she  failed  not  to  speak  of  them  enthusias- 
tically 

The  Rocks  in  later  years  became  at  this  season  a 
scene  of  dissipation  and  rowdyism,  and  the  patron- 
age of  the  more  respectable  classes  was  discontinued. 
In  the  procession  of  years,  another  change  has  come. 
Now,  at  all  seasons,  the  Rocks  are  a  point  of  attrac- 
tion to  all  classes.  The  pic-nic,  harvest  homes, 
political  gatherings,  railroad  meetings,  have  substi- 
tuted Whitsuntide  ;  and  upon  the  completion  of  the 
Baltimore  and  Delta  Railroad,  the  Rocks  must,  from 
the  attractions  of  scenery  and  the  salubrity  of  the 
air,  become  the  resort  of  persons  from  all  sections 
of  the  county  and  more  distant  points. 


THE  PERILOUS  FEAT. 

To  SAY  fool-hardy,  would  be  an  appropriate  ad- 
dition to  qualify  the  act.  A  well-known  resident 
of  the  neighborhood  of  the  Rocks  illustrated  the 
truth  of  the  old  adage,  "  When  wine  is  in  wit  is 
out,"  by  forcing  his  horse  to  the  very  verge  of  the 
precipice,  with  seeming  intention  of  throwing  him- 
self and  his  noble  animal  into  the  fearful  abyss 
below.  The  sober  horse,  with  more  discretion  than 
his  drunken  master,  seeing  the  peril,  turned  at  the 


76          THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 

moment  of  immediate  danger,  and  thus  saved  him- 
self and  rider  from  certain  death.  This  unhappy 
man  afterward,  in  an  attempt  to  force  his  horse 
across  Deer  Creek  when  swollen,  was  drowned. 
The  particular  point  on  the  Creek  where  he 
entered  the  water  is  said  to  have  been  about  the  head 
of  the  dam  of  Preston's  Mills.  Thus  died  igno- 
miniously  a  man  who,  but  for  indulgence  in  the  use 
of  an  unnecessary  beverage,  might  have  lived  for 
many  years,  a  comfort  to  his  family  and  an  orna- 
ment to  society.  The  horse,  Bold  Hector,  as  he  was 
not  inappropriately  named,  survived  his  unfortunate 
master  several  years. 


AN  ACT  OF  VANDALISM. 

ON  the  summit  of  the  western  Rocks  was  an  im- 
mense boulder,  weighing  many  tons,  poised  on  a 
fixed  rock  so  slightly  and  delicately  that  a  strong 
man  could  move  it  at  will,  and  yet  it  was  so  related 
to  the  rock  upon  which  it  rested,  that  it  required 
the  force  of  four  men,  aided  by  levers,  to  throw  it 
from  its  position.  These  persons,  without  apprecia- 
tion of  nature,  and  of  mere  wantonness,  or  con- 
ceiving the  purpose  of  giving  immortality  to  their 
names,  threw  this  object  of  great  interest  from  its 
position  to  the  rocks  below,  where  it  now  lies  with- 
out hope  of  its  ever  being  replaced  in  its  original 


THEIR   LEGENDS   AND   HISTORY.  77 

location.  I  have  understood  that  the  then  proprie- 
tor of  the  Rocks  offered  a  reward  for  the  discovery 
of  the  perpetrators  of  the  ignoble  deed, 'but  that 
it  was  not  effectual  in  securing  that  end.  This 
may  have  been  fortunate.  Otherwise  the  names  of 
the  guilty  parties  might  have  been  coupled  in  history 
with  the  destroyers  of  Rome  and  the  burners  of  the 
Alexandrian  Library. 


CANAL  AND  RAILROAD. 

WHEN  the  Tide- Water  Canal  was  completed,  our 
citizens  agitated  the  subject  of  slack-water  naviga- 
tion from  a  point  five  miles  above  La  Grange  to  the 
mouth  of  Deer  Creek,  the  accomplishment  of  which 
would  have  made  a  direct  and  cheap  outlet  for  our 
trade  to  Baltimore  and  Philadelphia.  The  idea 
was  born  of  a  felt  necessity,  but  could  not  have 
been  made  practical.  Such  a  project  would  not  have 
paid.  And  it  has  been  well  for  the  health  of  the 
country  bordering  Deer  Creek  that  it  was  impossible 
of  realization.  Canals  and  fevers  are  synonymous 
terms. 

Instead  of  slack-water,  locks  and  dams,  with  in- 
creased disease,  we  shall  have  a  Railroad,  and  more 
direct  communication  with  Baltimore,  our  chief 
commercial  city.  Under  the  direction  of  a  most 
energetic  President  and  an  enterprising  Board  of 
7* 


78          THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 

Directors,  sustained  by  citizens  along  the  line,  who 
are  awake  to  its  advantages,  it  is  being  pushed  with 
commendable  vigor,  and  will,  we  cannot  doubt,  be 
completed  in  good  time. 

To  our  immediate  Rocks  of  Deer  Creek  neigh- 
borhood the  effect  of  the  road  will  be  very  signifi- 
cant. Our  rocks  and  minerals  will  be  marketable, 
and  the  attractions  of  our  scenery  will  draw  many 
curious  visitors.  And  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the 
possessors  of  the  soil  will  awake  from  their  more 
than  Rip  Van  Winkle  sleep.  It  is  strange  that  they 
have  slept  so  long,  seeing  that  around  them  there 
are  so  many  examples  worthy  of  imitation.  The 
enterprise,  thrift  and  judgment  of  the  many  success- 
ful farmers  above,  and  the  no  less  competent  tillers 
of  the  soil  below,  should  stimulate  us  to  an  exertion 
that  may  make  this  comparative  wilderness  blossom 
as  the  rose.  The  Railroad,  completed,  will  ensure 
the  development  of  all  our  interests.  Our  fields  will 
yield  abundant  harvests,  the  waters  of  Deer  Creek 
will  be  utilized  in  the  operation  of  mills,  and  fac- 
tories, and  furnaces.  Our  lofty  summits  will  be 
crowned  with  the  residences  of  their  proprietors,  or 
occupied  as  the  retreats  of  the  wealthy  inhabitants  of 
the  city. 


THEIR   LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY. 


THE  ORIGINAL  MOONSHINER. 

SOUTHEAST  of  the  Rocks  three-fourths  of  a  mile, 
through  a  ravine  hidden  by  wooded  hills,  runs  a 
small  stream,  having  its  sources  in  several  springs 
a  short  distance  above,  which  gives  evidence  of  oc- 
cupation and  use.  Remains  of  a  dam  still  exist,  as 
also  traces  of  a  ditch,  leading  to  what  has  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  foundation  of  a  building.  For  what 
purpose  was  the  dam  built,  the  ditch  dug,  and  the 
building  erected?  The  oldest  inhabitants  cannot 
answer  these  interrogatories,  and  have  no  tradition 
in  relation  thereto.  We  are  therefore  left  to  conjec- 
ture the  purpose  for  which  they  were  made.  It 
may  have  been  the  location  of  the  distillery  of  some 
moonshiner — one  of  the  progenitors  of  the  gentle- 
men of  West  Virginia,  Tennessee,  North  Carolina, 
and  elsewhere,  who  are  engaged  in  illicit  distilla- 
tion, to  the  great  detriment  of  the  revenues  of  the 
United  States  of  America.  If  so,  he  could  not  have 
selected  a  place  more  favorable  to  his  vocation. 

Since  writing  the  above  I  have  had  conversations 
with  James  Wann,  Esq.,  and  with  David  Tucker, 
Sr.,  an  aged  citizen,  from  whom  I  have  learned 
some  facts  that  may  throw  doubt  on  the  moonshine 
theory.  They  informed  me  that  in  the  earlier  days 
of  Harford  the  tub-mill  was  in  use,  requiring  but 
little  water  ;  that  the  turning  of  chair-stuff  by  wa- 
ter, of  which  little  volume  was  required,  was  com- 
mon ;  as  also  the  distillation  of  brandies  from  fruits, 
requiring  comparatively  little  water.  The  waters 
of  my  brook  may  have  been  used  for  one  of  these 
purposes.  A  remark  made  by  our  venerable  citi- 


80  THE   ROCKS   OF   DEER  CREEK. 

zen,  Mr.  Tucker,  throws  doubt  upon  all  these  spec- 
ulations. He  said  that  it  is  not  rare  to  find  in  the 
forests  of  this  portion  of  Harford  traces  of  ditches, 
sometimes  of  considerable  length,  leading  to  low- 
lands, and  suggested  that  they  might  have  been 
used  for  purposes  of  irrigation.  If  so,  by  whom? 
Not  one  of  the  oldest  inhabitants  has  any  knowledge 
of  such  use,  and  none  know  by  whom  they  were  ex- 
cavated ;  nor  is  there  tradition  bearing  upon  the 
subject.  Can  it  be  that  the  people  who  preceded 
the  Indians  in  the  occupancy  of  this  country,  and 
who  have  left  traces  of  a  superior  civilization — 
the  mound-builders  or  some  other  race — were  the 
diggers  of  these  ditches,  and  used  them,  as  sug- 
gested, for  irrigating  uses?  Or  might  they  not 
have  been  rude  aqueducts  conveying  water  to  their 
villages  or  fortified  camps,  or,  at  a  later  period,  to 
the  palisaded  villages  of  the  Susquehannocks, 
against  whom  the  Six  Nations  waged  war  for  many 
years  ?  It  is  known  that  the  Tohocks,  a  tribe  once 
residing  at  the  head  of  the  Chesapeake,  did  thus  for- 
tify themselves  against  the  fierce  Mingoes.  How 
soon  the  past  becomes  mythical  and  legendary,  and 
how  greatly  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  there  has  not 
been  left  more  than  mere  conjecture  of  so  much 
which,  if  known,  would  greatly  interest  us  of  the 
present  1 

"  Thus  are  the  tracks  of  nations  blotted  out, 
Faint  impress  leaving,  like  the  passing  bird, 
Save  when  the  mould,  erst  trod  by  them,  is  stirred 
By  other  races— giving  to  the  light 
Borne  yellow,  crumbling  bone,  or  instrument  of  fight." 


TIIEIll    LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY.  81 


THE  MONUMENTS  OF  THE  GIANTS. 

WHEN  the  French  first  settled  Canada,  they  heard 
marvelous  stories  of  a  race  of  giants  who  were  said 
to  inhabit  the  country  at  the  mouth  of  the  Susque- 
hanna  and  westward  of  that  river.  How  much 
foundation  of  fact  there  was  for  these  reports  we 
do  not  know,  hut  in  after  ^years  the  Susquehan- 
nocks  were  known  as  men  of  large  size  and  of  great 
strength.  Six  feet  or  more  in  height,  and  of  corre- 
sponding weight,  was  the  representation  given  of 
them  by  the  first  white  explorers  of  their  country. 
The  knowledge  of  the  Indians  who  first  communi- 
cated to  the  French  the  stories  of  the  size  and 
strength  of  the  Susquehannocks  might  have  been 
traditionary  arid  descriptive  of  a  race  who  had  been 
gigantic  in  stature  and  of  herculean  strength,  but 
who,  from  some  unexplained  and  unexplainable 
causes,  had  in  the  progress  of  time  degenerated  to 
the  proportions  of  ordinary  mortals.  Students  of 
ethnology  know  that  such  degenerations  have 
occurred.  There  are  some  slightly  presumptive 
proofs  that  the  traditionary  stories  of  the  physical 
proportions  of  the  original  dwellers  by  the  Rocks 
of  .Deer  Creek  are  not  without  some  slight  basis  of 
truth.  The  King  and  Queen  Seats  are  the  sitting 
places  of  giants,  arid  they,  presumptively,  were 
occupied  at  a  time  past  indefinitely  distant  by  the 
rulers  of  the  country.  Indian  Jupiters  and  Junos, 
honored  not  less,  perhaps,  than  the  gods  and  god- 
desses of  Roman  and  Grecian  mythology,  may  have 
received  there  the  homage  of  their  subjects.  The 
gods  have  come  down  to  us,  said  the  superstitious 


82  THE   ROCKS   OF   DEER   CREEK. 

Ephesians,  when  Paul  and  Barnabas  wrought 
miracles  in  their  city.  The  gods  are  with  us,  would 
have  been  the  natural  exclamation  of  the  super- 
stitious Indians  assembled  in  council  on  the  summits 
of  the  Rocks  in  the  presence  of  their  rulers.  We 
may  not  in  this  argument  overlook  the  attractions 
but  little  noticed  by  intelligent  seekers  of  curious 
objects  which  we  have  appropriately  named,  as  we 
think,  the  Monuments  of  the  Giants.  On  the  sum- 
mit of  Rock  Ridge,  northeast  of  the  Rocks,  are 
several  huge  pillars  of  stone  many  feet  in  height. 
The  curious  observer  that  looks  at  them  from  the 
valley  below  in  the  dawn  of  the  morning  or  twilight 
of  the  evening  can  scarce  resist  the  conviction  that 
they  may  have  been  erected  by  a  race  of  giants  in 
honor  of  their  monarchs  and  to  perpetuate  their 
glory  ;  and  that  here  may  have  been  deposited  their 
remains,  a  use  to  which  some,  if  not  all,  of  the  great 
mounds  in  the  valleys  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
were  appropriated.  The  geologist  who  shall  visit 
these  attractions  may  smile  at  that  simplicity  which 
attributes  to  the  might  of  man  that  which  may  be 
only  a  proof  and  illustration  of  the  power  of  nature, 
which,  in  the  indefinite  past,  threw  upon  the  sum- 
mit of  Rock  Ridge  these  collossal  piles.  But  what- 
ever was  the  agency  by  which  the  result  was  effected, 
there  they  are — those  monuments 

"That  look  like  frowning  Titans  in  the  dim 
And  doubtful  light," 

to  be  numbered  with  the  many  curious  and  attract- 
ive natural  objects  seen  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Rocks 
of  Deer  Creek. 

The  view  from  the  Monuments  is  commanding 


THEIR   LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY.  83 

and  extensive.  In  the  distance  northward  is  seen 
the  Susquehanna  River,  and  beyond  it  the  hills  of 
Lancaster  County,  Pennsylvania;  southward,  the 
Chesapeake  Bay  and  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Maryland 
—the  bay  dotted  here  and  there  with  white  sails, 
moving  gracefully,  like  swans,  upon  the  bosom  of 
the  scarcely  ruffled  waters.  On  every  side  are 
reaches  of  fields  and  forests,  in  the  midst  of  which 
are  towns  and  villages,  hamlets  and  farm-houses, 
constituting  rare  pictures  of  Arcadian  beauty  ;  the 
interest  heightened  by  the  lowing  of  the  herds 
which  feed  upon  the  contiguous  meadows,  and  by 
the  sounds  of  distant  church  bells,  reminding  the 
devout  of  the  hour  of  prayer,  or  summoning  them 
to  the  worship  of  the  sanctuary  on  the  early  Sab- 
bath morning.  The  observer  of  these  entrancing 
views  is,  however,  conscious  of  that  illusion  which 
is  always  associated  with  such  scenes  ;  "  every  valley 
is  an  Eden,  and  every  heart  therein  is  at  peace." 
The  repose  is  the  possession  of  unthinking  nature  ; 
the  hearts  of  the  reasoning  inhabitants  are  the 
abodes  of  strife,  for  in  them  is  found  envy,  and 
pride,  and  ambition,  and  hate, 

"Every  prospect  pleases, 
And  only  man  is  vile." 


84          THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 


THE  FIELD  OF  DARTS. 

ONE-HALF  mile  southeast  of  Rock  Ridge,  and  two 
and  one-halt'  miles  northeast  of  the  Rocks  and  bor- 
dering on  the  Mine  Old  Fields,  is  a  valley  in  which 
have  been  found  numerous  Indian  arrow-heads  or 
darts.  The  stone  of  which  they  were  made  is  unlike 
any  that  exists  in  that  locality.  Either  the  material 
of  which  these  points  were  manufactured  was  brought 
there  for  that  purpose,  or  it  was  the  place  of  a  great 
battle  or  battles  fought  by  contending  savage  forces. 
Possibly,  those  confederated  nations,  Oneidas,  Cay- 
ugas,  Senecas,  Mohawks,  Onandagoes  and  Tuscaro- 
ras  fought  at  that  spot  the  Delawares  and  Susque- 
hannocks,  also  confederated  tribes,  and  that  that 
contest  was  decisive  of  that  long-continued  struggle 
which  reduced  the  latter  nations  to  the  condition  of 
women,  which  they  were  contemptuously  called  after 
their  subjection.  No  conjecture  is  at  fault  in  con- 
sidering that  eventful  past  in  which  almost  every 
foot  of  territory  occupied  by  them  was  the  place  of 
battle  between  opposing  Northmen  and  Southmen, 
and  no  excess  of  imagination  can  paint  in  too  vivid 
colors  the  horrors  of  the  struggle.  To  the  South- 
men  the  coming  of  the  Northmen  was  as- the  coming 
of  Gog  and  Magog.  All  resistance  was  vain. 
Loups  and  Susquehannocks  were  as  helpless  in  the 
grasp  of  their  foes,  as  effete  Romans  in  the  hands  of 
Goths  and  Vandals. 

History  is  ever  repeating  itself.  Three  centuries 
later  the  territory  south,  and  bordering  on  the 
former,  was  the  theatre  of  a  contest  between  civil- 
ized people  almost  unparalleled,  in  its  violence,  in 


THEIR   LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY.  85 

the  history  of  warfare,  resulting  as  in  the  past  in 
the  triumph  of  the  warriors  of  the  northern  lakes 
and  rivers,  but  as  also  in  the  past,  without  loss  of 
honor  to  the  conquered.  The  weaker  was  overborne 
by  the  stronger.  Once  more,  if  the  prophet  is  indeed 
a  seer,  the  mighty  tribes  of  the  distant  North  will 
move  down  upon  the  strong  ones  of  the  South.  Kuss 
and  American  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  con- 
tending for  the  mastery,  the  former  finding  that 
valley  the  place  of  graves.  So  shall  close  the  con- 
flict of  the  world,  and  the  earth  shall  keep  jubilee 
a  thousand  years.  The  voice  of  Gitche  Manito, 
the  mighty,  will  yet  be  potent  to  subdue  man's 
stubborn  nature,  and  to  allay  his  thirst  for  human 
blood.  Happy  would  it  be  for  mankind  if  his 
counsels  were  now  heeded  : 

"O,  my  children!  my  poor  children! 
Listen  to  the  words  of  wisdom, 
Listen  to  the  words  of  warning 
From  the  lips  of  the  Great  Spirit, 
From  the  Master  of  life,  who  made  you  1 

"I  am  weary  of  your  quarrels, 
Weary  of  your  wars  and  bloodshed, 
Weary  of  your  prayers  for  vengeance, 
Of  your  wranglings  and  disunion, 
All  your  strength  is  in  your  union, 
All  your  danger  is  in  discord ; 
Therefore  be  at  peace  henceforward, 
And  as  brothers  live  together." 


86          THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 


THE  CHROME  PITS. 

SOUTHWEST  of  the  Rocks,  from  one  to  three  miles 
distant,  are  extensive  deposits  of  chrome.  They 
have  been  worked  for  many  years,  chiefly  by  the 
Messrs.  Tyson,  of  Baltimore,  enterprising  mer- 
chants of  that  city.  The  working  has  often  been 
intermitted  for  considerable  spaces  of  time,  but 
when  the  Baltimore  and  Delta  Railroad  shall  have 
been  completed,  this  industry  will  doubtless  be  con- 
tinuous, and  also  enlarged,  and  thus  add  materially 
to  the  wealth  of  this  section  of  the  county  of  Har- 
ford.  In  addition  to  chrome,  there  are  in  the  neigh- 
borhood valuable  deposits  of  iron  ore,  magnesia, 
black  lead,  flint,  asbestos  and  natural  paint.  The 
development  of  all  these  sources  of  material  pros- 
perity is  but  a  question  of  time  and  of  cheap  trans- 
portation to  market.  The  rock  of  Rock  Ridge, 
which  is  fire-proof  and  particularly  adapted  for  fur- 
nace hearths,  may  of  itself  become  a  considerable 
source  of  income.  As  an  item  of  history  interest- 
ing to  all,  it  may  be  noted  that  the  fire-proof  char- 
acter of  these  rocks  was  first  discovered  by  Dr. 
Thomas  Johnson,  of  the  United  States  Army,  and 
brother  of  the  late  Mrs.  Eliza  A.  Preston,  of  Deer 
Creek. 


THEIR    LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY.  8*7 


THE  SLATE  QUARRIES. 

THE  Slate  Quarries  of  Harford  County,  Mary- 
land, and  York  County,  Pennsylvania,  are  distant 
about  eight  miles  northeast  of  the  Rocks.  They 
are  a  source  of  prosperity  to  the  section  of  country 
in  which  they  are  situated,  and  promise,  upon  the 
completion  of  the  Baltimore  and  Delta  and  York 
and  Peach  Bottom  Railroads,  to  develop  its  wealth 
indefinitely.  The  slate  is  of  superior  quality,  and 
held  in  high  estimation  wherever  used.  The  quar- 
ries employ  many  men  and  afford  subsistence  to 
many  families.  The  Welsh  alone,  who  are  chiefly 
employed,  constitute  a  population  of  six  or  seven 
hundred.  The  village  of  Bangor,  upon  the  sum- 
mit of  the  Ridge,  is  composed  principally  of  this 
nationality.  It  has  several  stores  and  other  places 
of  business.  There  are  two  churches,  Welsh  Con- 
gregational and  Calvinistic  Methodist.  One  of 
these  has  a  settled  pastor,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hughes, 
and  in  both  the  Welsh  language  is  exclusively  used 
in  religious  services.  These  churches  have  given  a 
desirable  moral  tone  to  the  community,  though, 
like  all  other  Christian  communities,  the  good  find 
in  the  natural  antagonism  of  the  human  heart  a 
constant  incentive  to  holy  work.  The  village  of 
Delta,  at  the  foot  of  the  Ridge,  is  composed  chiefly 
of  a  native  population.  It  has  many  places  of  busi- 
ness, but  no  church.  In  the  immediate  vicinity  of 
the  two  villages  are  Slate  Ridge,  Slateville  and  Mt. 
Nebo  churches,  the  first  under  the  pastoral  care  of 
the  Rev.  Joseph  D.  Smith,  a  gentleman  loved  by 
his  congregation,  and  held  in  high  esteem  by  the 


88  .         THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 

people  generally,  irrespective  of  creed  or  profession  ; 
the  second  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Davenport,  a  gentleman 
of  deserved  popularity  among  all  classes ;  the  last 
is  under  the  charge  of  the  Eev.  Mr.  Litsiuger,  of 
the  Methodist  Protestant  Church,  a  Christian  min- 
ister of  enlarged  and  liberal  views,  whose  praise  is 
in  all  the  churches. 

The  representative  business  men  at  the  Quarries 
of  the  Welsh  population  are  Faulk  Jones,  William 
E.  Williams,  John  Humphreys  and  Hugh  C.  Rob- 
erts, Esqrs.,  John  Parry  &  Co.,  Richard  Reese  & 
Co.,  Win.  C.  Robertson  &  Co.,  John  W.  Jones  & 
Co.,  Richard  Hughes  &  Co.,  Robert  L.  Jones  &  Co., 
and  Humphrey  Lloyd,  Esq.  These  gentlemen  came 
to  America  in  their  youth,  and  by  industry  and 
skill  have  accumulated  property ;  and  occupying 
prominent  and  influential  positions  in  the  commu- 
nity, have  given  proof  that  industry  and  integrity 
are  roads  to  success. 

The  first  Welsh  worker  in  the  Quarries  was  a 
Mr.  Davis  ;  the  first  successful  worker  a  Mr.  Parry. 
The  latter  leased  from  Major  Williamson  thirty  or 
thirty-five  years  ago,  acquired  a  fortune,  traveled 
into  foreign  countries,  and  died  at  Jerusalem.  His 
family  is  now  living  in  Bangor,  Wales,  on  the  inter- 
est of  the  money  made  at  Bangor,  United  States  of 
America.  He  is  represented  to  have  been  a  man  of 
great  integrity,  a  proof  of  which  is,  that  after  his 
return  to  Wales  he  called  together  his  creditors, 
and  paid  the  whole  amount  of  his  indebtedness  to 
them,  with  interest. 

The  Quarries  constitute  a  part  of  the  group  of 
interesting  objects  that  render  the  locality  of  the 
Rocks  of  Deer  Creek  one  of  great  attraction,  and 


THEIR   LEGENDS    AND    HISTORY.  89 

the  visitor  to  the  Rocks  will  do  well  to  visit  them. 
The  Quarries  have  a  promising  future.  Delta's 
magnificent  distances  will  be  of  the  past,  and  Ban- 
gor's  sombre  residences  will  be  substituted  by  more 
pretentious  edifices.  The  whole  ridge  will  be  alive 
with  busy  and  enterprising  workers,  bringing  from 
the  bowels  of  the  earth  the  material  that  shall 
shield  its  purchasers  from  sun,  and  rain,  and  snow, 
and  make  fortunes  for  the  sellers. 


THE  HORSE  EPIDEMIC  AND  THE  GUINEA- 
MAN'S  PONY. 


MORE  than  one  hundred  years  ago,  during  the 
lifetime  of  Benjamin  Rigdon,  grandfather  of  the 
late  George  W.  S.  Rigdon,,  an  epidemic  among 
horses,  very  destructive  in  its  character,  prevailed 
throughout  all  this  section  of  country.  Tradition 
tells  us  that  the  Durhams,  ancestors  of  the  present 
families  of  that  name,  who  were  wealthy,  owning 
large  tracts  of  land  and  many  horses,  lost  two  hun- 
dred of  them  by  the  scourge  ;  that  the  only  horse 
that  escaped  the  plague  was  a  pony  owned  by  an 
aged  Guinea-man  belonging  to  the  first  Mr.  Rigdon. 
This  old  negro  lived  in  a  small  cabin  on  the  top  of 
Rock  Ridge,  a  short  distance  above  the  present  resi- 
dence of  Richard  Mayes,  Esq.,  and  not  distant  from 
the  Rocks  of  Deer  Creek.  Whether  the  preservation 
8* 


90          THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 

of  the  life  of  the  pony  was  owing  to  the  healthful- 
ness  of  the  spot,  or  its  isolated  position,  is  not 
known  ;  most  likely  to  the  latter,  as  the  disease  was, 
doubtless,  contagious.  Though  not  another  repre- 
sentative of  the  equine  race  was  left,  the  fortunate 
pony  ate  sprightlily  of  the  slight  herbage  that  grew 
on  the  open  places  of  Rock  Ridge  summit,  or  of  the 
corn  grown  by  his  thrifty  master  on  the  plain  below. 
Looking  down  on  the  vast  reaches  of  country  on 
either  side  of  the  noted  ridge,  which  towers  in 
mountain  height  above  the  valleys,  if  he  could  not 
say,  with  Alexander  Selkirk  (Robinson  Crusoe),  on 
the  island  of  Juan  Fernandez, 

"I  am  monarch  of  all  I  survey, 
My  right  there  is  none  to  dispute," 

he  could  say,  "I  am  the  sole  owner  of  a  horse 
in  all  these  broad  domains  ;"  and  the  proud  pony, 
joining  his  master  in  the  refrain,  could  utter, 

"No  pent-up  Utica  contracts  our  powers, 
The  whole  boundless  continent  is  ours." 

Theirs  it  was  not  as  against  superior  man,  who  rules 
the  beasts  of  the  field,  but  as  against  the  beasts 
themselves,  every  one  of  which,  save  the  pony,  had 
succumbed  to  the  power  of  the  fell  destroyer.  The 
invulnerable  pony  was  alone  in  all  his  glory.  The 
value  of  such  a  pony  could  not  be  estimated. 

The  Guinea-man  was  a  character.  We  write 
only  of  his  religion.  In  that  he  was  Fetish.  He 
bore  constantly  about  his  person  afeitico,  the  Por- 
tuguese name  for  an  amulet — a  talisman.  To  this 
gru  yrus,  the  name  of  the  charm  in  his  native  lan- 
guage, he  attached  much  importance,  as  it  shielded 


THEIR   LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY.  91 

his  family  and  all  living  things  belonging  to  it- 
dog  or  cat  or  pony — from  disease,  and  made  all  safe 
from  the  machinations  of  their  enemies.  We  are 
not  to  infer  from  his  possession  of  the  feitico,  and 
the  power  he  ascribed  to  it,  that  he  had  no  idea  of 
a  Supreme  Spirit,  a  King  of  Heaven,  or  that  he  did 
not  worship  Him.  Worship  of  the  Highest  is  uni- 
versal. So  thought  Pope : 

"Father  of  all  in  every  age, 

In  every  clime  adored, 
By  saint,  by  savage,  and  by  sage, 
Jehovah,  Jove,  or  Lord." 

The  Guinea-man  could  not  but  recognize  Him  who 

"  Warms  in  the  sun,  refreshes  in  the  breeze, 
Glows  in  the  stars,  blossoms  in  the  trees, 
Lives  through  all  life,  extends  through  all  extent, 
Spreads  undivided,  operates  unspent." 

Fetishism  is  not  a  primitive  religion.  It  is  a  cor- 
ruption of  religion,  and  even  enlightened  Christians 
may  well  be  fearful  of  foe  feitico,  for  the  tendency 
to  idolatry  is  universal.  Solomon  built  altars  for 
Chemosh  and  Moloch.  The  possession  of  the  feitico 
by  the  G-uinea-man  of  Rock  Ridge  rendered  him 
very  obnoxious  to  his  fellow-servants.  They  were 
afraid  of  him.  "  He  possesses  a  charm,"  said  they  ; 
"  he  can  kill  us  if  he  will.  He  is  a  wizard,  a  con- 
jurer ;  his  old  woman  is  a  witch  ;  they  deal  with 
spirits."  No  one  of  them  would  have  touched  that 
mountain,  for  to  touch  it  was  death,  they  thought. 
If  they  could  have  taken  his  life  by  poison,  the  usual 
mode  of  their  race,  they  would  not  have  done  so  ; 
for  does  not  the  power  of  the  feitico  survive  after  its 
possessor  has  gone  hence,  and  may  not  his  spirit 


92          THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 

come  in  the  silent  hours  of  the  night  to  avenge  his 
wrongs  ?  This  apprehension  was  his  castle.  A 
cabin  without  wall,  or  moat,  or  drawbridge,  was 
stronger  than  a  feudal  castle.  It  was  defended  by 
superstition. 

That  pony  should  have  been  skinned  at  its  death, 
his  cuticle  stuffed  and  preserved,  and  labeled,  "  The 
sole  survivor." 


THE  CHURCH  OF  THE  ROCKS. 

"A  CITY  set  on  a  hill  "  cannot  be  hid,  nor  can  a 
church  in  such  a  position.  This  is  eminently  true 
of  the  house  of  worship  now  in  the  occupancy  of  the 
religious  denomination  known  as  the  Evangelical 
Association.  Situated  on  the  summit  of  a  lofty  emi- 
nence directly  opposite  the  Rocks,  having  them  in 
full  view,  and  overlooking  the  romantic  and  pic- 
turesque valley  of  La  Grange,  it  looks  upon  a  scene 
of  alternate  and  mingled  beauty  and  grandeur  not 
often  seen.  This  view  has  a  peculiar  psychological 
effect  upon  the  intelligent  and  appreciative  be- 
holder. It  intuitively  demonstrates  (I  hope  my 
language  is  philosophical)  the  former  existence  of 
a  Rock  Ridge  Lake.  That  mighty  basin,  scooped 
out  of  the  mighty  hills  which  surround  it,  and  the 
violent  breaks  of  the  Ridge,  where  the  waters  of 
Deer  Creek  rush  through  it,  are  physical  proofs  of 


THEIR    LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY.  93 

its  past  existence,  that,  like  axioms  in  mathematics, 
are  self-evident. 

Years  previous  to  the  building  of  the  church,  re- 
ligious services  were  held  on  the  summit  of  the 
Kocks.  Prompted  hy  curiosity,  if  hy  no  worthier 
motive,  there  gathered  once  on  that  high  eminence 
a  congregation  of  men,  women  and  children  to  hear 
the  preacher  of  righteousness,  who,  we  may  well 
conjecture,  was,  with -his  audience,  inspired  by  the 
scenes  around  them.  In  the  selection  of  this  spot 
for  the  exercise  of  his  vocation,  he  but  imitated  the 
example  of  One  greater  than  himself.  "And  see- 
ing the  multitudes,  He  went  up  into  a  mountain, 
and  when  He  was  set,  His  disciples  came  unto  Him  ; 
and  He  opened  His  mouth  and  taught  them." 

More  than  a  century  previously  there  was  a  gath- 
ering of  the  chiefs  of  the  Indians  whose  habitations 
were  not  distant  from  the  Rocks,  to  listen  to  a  ser- 
mon by  a  Swedish  minister.  The  lessons  were  those 
which  are  now  given  to  such  as  sit  under  the  min- 
istry of  the  Word.  The  clergyman  spoke  to  them 
of  the  principal  historical  facts  of  Christianity — 
such  as  the  fall  of  Adam  by  eating  an  apple,  the 
coming  of  Christ  to  repair  the  evil,  His  labors,  suf- 
ferings and  miracles.  When  he  had  finished,  one 
of  the  chiefs,  thanking  him  for  the  discourse,  re- 
lated one  of  the  mythical  traditions  of  his  people, 
which  he  deemed  to  be  of  like  credibility,  and 
equally  binding  upon  the  faith  of  all,  and  thus 
proved  the  inefficacy  of  the  lessons  taught  him  by 
the  Christian  teacher.  Now,  the  lessons  taught  in 
the  Church  of  the  Rocks  are  doubtless  believed,  and, 
we  would  fain  hope,  practiced. 


94          THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 


MIKE'S  ROCK. 

\ 

A  FEW  miles  northeast  of  the  Rocks  of  Deer 
Creek,  and  on  Rock  Ridge,  is  a  large  rock  known 
by  the  name  of  the  title  of  this  article.  By  the 
side  of  it  is  a  large  tree,  the  branches  of  which  over- 
hang it.  An  unfortunate,  wearied  with  the  per- 
plexities of  life,  perhaps  its  agonies,  closed  here 
that  life,  if  not  precisely  in  the  manner  expressed 
in  the  following  lines  of  an  atheist,  found  among 
his  papers  after  his  death,  yet  in  one  of  the  modes 
common  to  the  sad  who  lack  fortitude  : 

"An  hour  more; 
Sixty  minutes,  and  the  light 
Of  this,  we  mis-call  life,  goes  out  forever. 
Forever?    Aye;  beyond  the  grave  is  found 
No  life,  save  that  great  primal  force,  which  here 
Displays  itself  alike  in  growth  of  weed 
Or  human  soul.     Why  longer  live  and  suffer, 
When  Vie  finger  upon  this  slender 
Bar  of  steel  will  end,  with  one  sharp  flash, 
TJie  hurry  and  the  heart-ache? 

"Death's  messenger, 

From  out  this  glittering  tube,  I  call,  to  bid 
Me  sleep ;  and  in  that  sleep  I  dread  no  dreams, 
And  no  to-morrow.    Salve,  rex  terrorumf 
Moriturus  te  saluto" 

A  rash  act,  which  was  followed  by  a  surprise. 
Death  terminates  this,  not  that ;  and  that  is  eter- 
nal. 


THEIR  LEGENDS   AND   HISTORY.  95 

THE  ANCIENT  MILL  AND  THE  HONEST 
MILLER. 

HALF-WAY  between  the  Indian  Cupboard,  the  re- 
treat of  Alexius,  the  noted  fisherman  and  trapper, 
and  the  Otter  Bock,  above  which  was  the  habita- 
tion of  Walter  the  Hermit,  is  an  ancient  mill. 
The  first  mill  was  of  logs,  and  owned  by  an  English- 
man named  Sankey.  He  was  probably  a  York- 
shireman,  as  tradition  informs  us  that  the  boys  of 
that  day  amused  themselves  with  his,  to  them,  sin- 
gular brogue.  The  mill,  in  the  course  of  time, 
passed  to  Underwood,  Harry,  Morton,  and  J.  Bond 
Preston,  in  the  order  named.  This  mill  has  fur- 
nished for  many  years  bread  for  man  and  "  stuff" 
for  beast.  One  possessed  of  good  descriptive  powers 
and  of  a  poetical  genius  might  make  the  mill  and 
its  picturesque  surroundings  furnish  material  for  an 
article  that  would  not  discount  the  reputation  of 
Scribner  or  Harper,  or  any  other  leading  magazine. 
Such  description  is  not  sought.  Attention  is  direct- 
ed to  it  rather  because  it  is  one  of  the  ancient  land- 
marks or  watermarks  of  its  neighborhood,  and  is  a 
connecting  link  between  the  distant  past  and  the 
immediate  present.  It  derives  also  some  notoriety 
from  the  snake  story  of  the  ancient  trapper,  a  snake 
rivaling  the  sea  serpent  that  has  been  so  often  seen 
on  our  Atlantic  coast — from  New  England  to  Key 
West — the  habitation  of  which  was  on  the  wooded 
hill  opposite  it. 

In  this  ancient  mill  was  once  upon  a  time,  as 
tradition  tells  us,  an  honest  miller.  To  me,  all 
millers  are  honest ;  but  unhappily  for  the  reputa- 


9b  TI1E   ROCKS   OF   DEER   CREEK. 

tion  of  the  craft,  suspicious  people,  or  people  who, 
like  the  Heathen  Chinee,  as  Bret  Harte  tells  us, 
themselves  familiar  with  the  ways  that  are  dark, 
are  sometimes  oblivious  of  the  saying : 

"Who  steals  my  purse  steals  trash, 
But  he  who  filches  from  me  my  good  name 
Takes  that  which  does  not  himself  enrich, 
And  makes  me  poor  indeed." 

The  honest  miller  was  Thomas  Wright,  remem- 
bered by  the  few  ancient  people  who  have  survived 
him.  The  story  of  the  mysterious  pig  is  both  a 
proof  and  illustration  of  the  integrity  of  the  miller. 
Once  on  a  time  he  left  Sam's  Creek,  Carroll  county, 
Md.,  early  on  the  morning  of  a  summer  day,  for 
the  mill  on  Deer  Creek.  He  had  walked  but  a 
short  distance  when  he  heard  the  squealing  of  a  di- 
minutive pig  that  was  following  in  his  tracks.  To 
escape  the  animal  that  was  intent  upon  accompany- 
ing him  on  his  journey,  he  left  the  road,  walking 
through  fields  and  forests.  But  in  vain.  The  pig 
was  equal  to  the  emergency,  its  instincts  pointing 
out  the  way  of  the  miller  unerringly.  The  integ- 
rity of  the  miller  consisted  in  this,  that  he  made 
every  possible  exertion  to  escape  from  that  pig, 
showing  that  if  there  has  ever  been  in  this  Chris- 
tian country  a  miller  who  fattened  his  pigs  on 
other  people's  corn,  he  was  not  that  miller.  The 
sad  thing  about  the  story  of  the  pig  is,  that  the 
honest  miller,  being  of  superstitious  turn  of  mind, 
interpreted  its  singular  following  as  an  omen  of 
his  death.  His  death  did  occur  a  short  time  there- 
after. 

The  wheels  of  the  ancient  mill  yet  turn — not  the 
wheels  used  when  the  honest  miller  was  occupant, 


THEIR   LEGENDS   AND   HISTORY.  97 

but  turbine  wheels.  The  old  mill  is  doomed.  The 
coining  narrow-gauge,  insuring  facility  of  transit  to 
and  from  our  large  commercial  city,  will  make  it  a 
potent  reason  why  men  of  capital  should  utilize  the 
great  and  continuous  water-power  for  manufactories 
on  a  larger  scale. 

The  unceasing  flow  of  the  waters  of  Deer  Creek 
symbolizes  the  onward  flow  of  humanity  uninter- 
rupted by  successive  generations.  Humanity  lives 
and  the  waters  flow  on,  and  such  may  be  for  a  bil- 
lion of  years  to  come.  But  within  the  hearing  of 
the  music  of  no  onflowing  stream  will  there  be,  if 
my  informant  has  uttered  truth,  a  more  honest 
miller  than  Thomas  Wright.  (f  An  honest  man  is 
the  noblest  work  of  God." 

"At  the  window,  looking  upon  a  crystal  stream, 
There  sat  a  little  lady,  indulging  in  a  dream, 
A  dream  of  fairy  visions  conies  up  before  her  eyes, 
As  she  gazes  now  intently  upon  the  azure  skies. 

"  A  soft  breeze  fans  the  valley,  the  sun  rests  on  the  hill, 
The  water  murmurs  sweetly  as  it  rushes  past   '  the  mill ; ' 
The  earth  seems  glad  of  springtime,  unfolding  every  hour 
From  Nature's  store,  the  tender  bud  that  holds  the  fragrant 
flower. 

"The  lady  sits  a-dreaming,  with  head  buried  in  her  hand, 
And  visions  come  a- trooping  from  off  a  fairy-land, 
And  in  her  dreamy  fancies  there  is  a  potent  spell 
That  acts  like  charm  of  music,  the  smiling  lips  now  tell. 

"The  heart  cons  o'er  its  treasures  glowing  in  rosy  light, 
The  spirit  basks  in  beaut}'-  like  stars  that  gem  the  night, 
And  thus  the  little  lady  dreamed  happy  hours  away, 
So  happy  in  her  musings  she  fain  would  have  them  stay." 

The  little  lady  whose  musings  form  a  proper  se- 
quel to  the  story   of   the    ancient    mill    and   its 
9 


98  THE   ROCKS   OF  DEER  CREEK. 

occupant,  cherishes  now,  and  it  will  ever  be  so, 
the  highest  admiration  and  esteem  for  the  honest 
miller. 


THE  OLDEST  INHABITANT. 

THE  oldest  inhabitant  now  living  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  Rocks  of  Deer  Creek  is  Mrs.  Rebecca  Smith. 
She  was  born  within  three-fourths  of  a  mile  of  her 
present  residence.  Here,  within  sight  of  the  Rocks, 
she  has  lived  to  be  almost  a  centenarian,  being  now 
in  the  ninety-sixth  year  of  her  age,  surviving  all 
who  commenced  with  her  the  journey  of  life.  Of 
a  cheerful  disposition  and  vigorous  constitution,  she 
has  borne  the  burdens  of  life  with  comparative  ease  ; 
and  in  a  serene  old  age,  comforted  by  loving  hearts, 
she  is  awaiting  resignedly  the  final  summons. 

Retaining  unimpaired  her  mental  faculties,  which 
were  always  strong,  she  is  able  to  entertain  the  cu- 
rious of  a  later  generation  with  most  interesting 
descriptions  of  the  habits,  customs  and  manners  of 
her  early  cotemporaries,  distinctly  recollecting  arid 
graphically  relating  innumerable  incidents  of  the 
far  past.  In  her  youth  this  portion  of  the  country 
was  comparatively  a  wilderness.  Without  attract- 
ive and  comfortable  residences,  as  now  ;  no  conven- 
ient and  well  supervised  roads,  paths  usually  ;  no 
churches,  preaching  in  private  houses  ;  the  school- 
house  a  rude  cabin  of  logs,  without  any  floor  but 


THEIR   LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY.  99 

nature's,  the  chimney  built  of  sticks,  unplaned 
seats,  without  backs.  Carriages  there  were  none, 
the  ordinary  mode  of  travel  being  on  horseback. 
The  whole  progress  for  ninety-six  years,  from  the 
rude  past  to  the  present  more  advanced  civilization, 
lias  been  witnessed  by  her.  But  whatever  contrasts 
she  makes  between  the  past  and  the  present,  they 
are  without  invidiousness.  All  along  she  has  ac- 
cepted the  conditions  of  life,  and  the  circumstances 
attending  it,  as  they  were  more  or  less  favorable, 
without  murmur  or  complaint,  recognizing  the  fact 
that  the  Most  High  appoints  the  bounds  of  our  hab- 
itations, and  that  all  things  promote  the  happiness 
of  the  submissive. 

It  was  her  great  felicity  to  be  united  in  marriage, 
at  a  comparatively  early  age,  with  a  gentleman  of 
superior  intellectual  and  social  qualities,  a  conscien- 
tious Christian,  a  faithful  friend,  and  a  considerate 
and  loving  husband  and  father.  The  name  of  Amos 
Smith  is  to  this  day  in  this  community  a  synonym 
of  all  that  is  excellent  in  character — it  is  as  precious 
ointment  poured  forth.  The  memories  of  his  unob- 
trusive acts  of  kindness  are  treasured,  and  his  ex- 
ample valued  as  a  rich  legacy  to  those  who  have 
followed  him. 

The  venerable  matron,  the  oldest  inhabitant  of 
the  neighborhood  of  the  Rocks  of  Deer  Creek,  now 
leaning  upon  her  staff,  and  bending  toward  that 
house  of  the  earth  that  is  the  decreed  abode  of  all, 
suggests,  in  the  remarkable  vigor  of  her  physical 
being,  and  in  the  sprightliness  of  her  intellectual 
life,  lessons  of  wisdom  that  the  young  everywhere 
may  with  profit  learn.  An  active  life  and  a  cheer- 
ful mind  were  the  great  treasures  she  possessed — 


100         THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 

more  valuable  than  gold  or  silver,  or  the  jewels  that 
blaze  in  the  coronets  of  queens. 


THE  YOUNGEST  INHABITANTS. 


THE  youngest  inhabitant  in  the  neighborhood  of 
the  Rocks  is  William  Cecil  Gladden,  infant  son  of 
our  well-known  fellow-citizen,  William  Gladden, 
Esq. 

Of  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  Rocks,  the 
youngest  inhabitants  are  Bessie  and  Jessie,  twin 
daughters  of  Joseph  Wetherill,  Esq.,  proprietor  of 
the  store  at  that  place.  Born  under  the  very 
shadows  of  the  Rocks,  and  by  the  side  of  Deer 
Creek,  in  view  of  the  plunging  waters  of  its  romantic 
fall — all  that  remains  of  the  once  majestic  cataract 
of  Rock  Ridge  Lake — they  are  passing  their  con- 
fiding and  unsuspecting  life  happy  in  the  present 
and  without  care  for  the  future.  These  children 
and  William  Cecil  Gladden  are  cousins.  May  life 
be  to  the  three  all  that  fond  parents  and  loving 
friends  can  wish.  To  each  we  dedicate  the  prayer 
of  the  gifted  Willis  : 

"Light  to  thy  paths,  bright  creature!    I  would  charm 
Thy  being  if  I  could,  that  it  should  be 
Ever  as  now  thou  dreainest,  and  flow  on, 
Thus  innocent  and  beautiful,  to  heaven." 


THEIR   LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY.  101 


THE  ORIGINAL.  INHABITANTS. 

THE  original  inhabitants  were  the  Susquehan- 
nock  Indians.  Their  territory  extended  from  the 
Susquehanna  River  westward  as  far  as  the  Allegany 
Mountains.  This  nation  had  a  close  alliance  with 
the  Len  Lenapes  or  Delawares,  who  occupied  the 
country  from  the  head  of  the  Chesapeake  Bay  to  the 
Kittatinny  Mountains  northward,  and  as  far  east- 
ward as  the  Connecticut  River.  This  confederacy 
carried  on  a  long  war  with  the  Indians  who  lived 
to  the  north  of  them,  between  the  Kittatinny  Mount- 
ains and  Lake  Ontario,  who  called  themselves  Min- 
goes,  and  were  called  by  the  English  the  Five 
Nations.  At  the  time  of  the  settlement  of  James- 
town, Virginia,  this  war  was  raging  with  great 
fury.  In  one  of  Captain  Smith's  excursions  up  the 
Chesapeake,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Susquehanna,  in 
1608,  he  met  with  five  or  six  canoes  full  of  warriors 
who  were  coming  to  attack  their  enemies  in  the 
rear.  Having  made  peace  with  the  Adirondacks, 
through  the  intercession  of  the  French,  who  were 
then  settling  Canada,  they  turned  their  arms  against 
the  Lenapi  and  their  confederates,  and  subduing 
them,  reduced  them  to  almost  the  condition  of 
slaves.  Peace  was  granted  them  on  condition  that 
they  should  put  themselves  under  the  protection  of 
the  Mingoes,  confine  themselves  to  raising  corn, 
hunting  for  the  subsistence  of  their  families,  and  no 
longer  have  the  power  of  making  war.  This  is 
what  the  Indians  call  making  them  women.  In 
this  condition  the  Lenapes  and  their  confederates 
were  when  the  settlement  of  Pennsylvania  was 


102         THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 

begun.  What  is  said  by  Stitb  of  tbe  language  and 
dress  of  the  Susquehannocks,  may  deserve  to  be  here 
inserted:  "  Their  language  and  attire  were  very 
suitable  to  their  stature  and  appearance ;  for  their 
language  sounded  deep  and  solemn,  and  hollow, 
like  a  voice  in  a  vault.  Their  attire  was  the  skins 
of  bears  and  wolves,  so  cut  that  the  man's  head  went 
through  the  neck,  and  the  ears  of  the  bear  were 
fastened  on  his  shoulders,  while  the  nose  and  teeth 
hung  dangling  upon  his  breast.  Behind  was 
another  bear's  face  split,  with  a  paw  hanging  at 
the  nose.  And  their  sleeves  coming  down  to  their 
elbows,  were  the  necks  of  bears,  with  their  arms 
going  through  the  mouth  and  paws  hanging  to  the 
nose.  One  of  them  had  the  head  of  a  wolf  hanging 
to  a  chain  for  a  jewel,  and  his  tobacco  pipe  was 
three-quarters  of  a  yard  long,  carved  with  a  bird, 
a  deer  and  other  devices  at  the  great  end.  His 
arrows  were  three-quarters  of  a  yard  long,  headed 
with  splinters  of  a  white,  crystal-like  stone  in  the 
form  of  a  heart,  an  inch  broad  and  an  inch  and  a 
half  long.  These  he  carried  at  his  back  in  a  wolf's 
skin  for  a  quiver,  with  his  bow  in  one  hand  and  a 
club  in  the  other."  Such  was  the  appearance  of 
the  first  inhabitants  of  Deer  Creek  and  the  Rocks. 
The  Mingoes  came,  saw,  conquered,  and,  occupying 
the  country  as  masters,  ruled  for  a  time.  They,  in 
turn,  were  overborne  by  a  superior  race,  and  we 
have  only  the  recollections  of  the  deeds  of  the  bold 
warriors. 


THEIR    LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY.  103 


THE  MASSACRE  OF  THE  MINGOES. 

THE  Mingoes  of  Deer  Creek,  as  a  body,  left  this 
locality  in  the  year  1752.  A  few  of  them  remained 
until,  as  is  plausibly  conjectured,  the  winter  of  1763, 
and  left  immediately  after  the  extermination  of  their 
kindred  who  had  been  living  on  Conestogoe  Creek, 
Lancaster  County,  Pennsylvania.  These  Indians 
were  the  remains  of  a  tribe  long  settled  at  that  place, 
and  thence  called  Conestogoes.  Upon  the  arrival 
of  the  English  in  Pennsylvania  this  tribe  sent  mes- 
sengers to  welcome  them,  with  presents  of  venison, 
corn  and  skins,  and  the  whole  tribe  entered  into  a 
treaty  of  friendship  with  the  first  proprietary,  Wil- 
liam Penn — a  treaty  which  was  to  last  as  long  as  the 
sun  should  shine,  or  the  waters  run  in  the  rivers. 
This  treaty  was  often  renewed — the  chain  brightened, 
as  the  Conestogoes  expressed  it — from  time  to  time. 
This  tribe  was  ultimately  reduced  to  twenty  per- 
sons— seven  men,  five  women  and  eight  children, 
when  by  one  of  the  most  cowardly  and  dastardly 
acts  on  record  in  all  the  protracted  and  bloody  con- 
tests with  the  Indians,  this  handful  of  peaceable 
people  were  murdered  in  cold  blood  by  fifty-seven 
Conestogoe  gentlemen  (.?).  On  Wednesday,  the  14th 
day  of  December,  1763,  these  cavaliers,  mounted  on 
good  horses,  and  armed  with  fire-locks,  hangers 
and  hatchets,  entered  Conestogoe  Manor,  and  sur- 
rounding the  defenceless  village,  fired  upon,  stabbed 
and  hatcheted  to  death  three  men,  two  women  and 
a  boy.  Shehaes,  an  old  man  who  assisted  at  the 
second  treaty  held  with  them  by  Penn  in  1701,  was 
among  the  slain.  All  were  scalped,  and  their  huts 


104  THE   ROCKS   OF   DEER  CREEK. 

burned.  The  remaining  Mingoes,  absent  at  the 
time  of  the  massacre — they  were  out  among  their 
white  neighbors  selling  baskets,  brooms  and  bowls 
— were  taken  into  protection  by  the  humane  magis- 
trates of  Lancaster,  and  secured  from  harm,  as  they 
thought,  in  the  work-house  of  that  town.  Fifty  of 
the  chivalry,  whose  names  are  worthy  to  be  inscribed 
on  the  temple  of  cfo'shonor  as  high  up  as  the  sum- 
mits of  the  Rocks  of  Deer  Creek,  suddenly  appeared 
before  that  town  on  the  27th  of  December,  invested 
the  work-house,  and  by  gradual  approaches,  doubt- 
less, assaulted,  captured  and  put  to  death  all  that 
were  left  of  the  Mingoes — men,  women  and  chil- 
dren, fourteen  in  all.  The  remains  of  the  mur- 
dered victims  were  dragged  into  the  street  and  ex- 
posed to  view.  The  fifty  patriots  of  the  Simon 
Girty  stamp  then  mounted  their  horses,  huzzaed  in 
triumph,  and  rode  off,  congratulating  themselves 
on  their  victory. 

"Ah!  where  are  the  soldiers  that  fought  here  of  yore, 
The  sod  is  upon  them,  they'll  struggle  no  more, 
The  hatchet  is  fallen,  the  red  man  is  low ; 
But  near  him  reposes  the  arm  of  the  foe. 

"The  bugle  is  silent;  the  war  whoop  is  dead; 
There  is  a  murmur  of  waters  and  woods  in  their  stead, 
And  the  raven  and  owl  chant  a  symphony  drear 
From  the  dark  waving  pines  o'er  the  combatants'  bier. 

"Sleep,  soldiers  of  merit!  sleep  gallants  of  yore! 
The  hatchet  is  fallen,  the  struggle  is  o'er, 
While  the  fir-tree  is  green  and  the  wind  rolls  a  wave, 
The  tear-drop  shall  brighten  the  turf  of  the  brave?" 

The  Mingoes  of  Deer  Creek,  hearing  of  the  mas- 
sacre of  their  people,  and  fearing  that  their  lives 
would  not  be  secure  even  among  the  humane  white 


THKIR   LEGENDS    AND    HISTORY.  105 

inhabitants  of  their  neighborhood,  left  to  join  their 
people  in  the  West  or  South.  Their  fears  were 
groundless.  We  have  never  heard  that  gentlemen 
of  Maryland  ever  deported  themselves  toward  de- 
fenceless women  and  innocent  children  as  those 
Bayard-like  representatives  of  the  men  of  England 
who  wore  the  red  rose. 

The  Mingoes  occasionally  visited  their  former 
homes,  but  that  for  a  few  years  only.  In  1764,  a 
year  after  their  removal,  a  party  visited  a  locality 
in  the  neighborhood  of  New  Park,  York  County, 
Pennsylvania,  ten  miles  distant  from  the  Rocks. 
There  was  a  wigwam  still  standing  at  that  date  on 
the  farm  now  owned  by  Duncan  Brown,  Esq.,  then 
possessed  by  his  paternal  grandfather.  They  were 
seen  walking  around  it,  and  seemingly  viewing  it 
with  a  curious  interest.  To  Deer  Creek  and  the 
Rocks  a  final  adieu  came.  The  descendants  of  the 
former  occupants  know  of  these  localities  only  as 
the  homes  of  their  ancestors — the  places  where  the 
bear,  the  wolf  and  the  beaver  were  many,  and 
where  the  eagle  built  her  nest  upon  the  High  Rocks, 
beneath  which  their  chiefs  sat  by  their  council  fires. 


ROCKS  LITERATURE. 

I  AM  not  perfectly  satisfied  with  the  designation 
I  have  given  to  the  communications  in  prose  and 
poetry  which  I  have  selected  for  this  place  in  this 


106         THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 

book.  Rocks  Literature  is  not  poetical ;  and  the 
title  is  justified  only  by  the  fact  that  these  contri- 
butions have  been  inspired  by  the  sublimities  and 
beauties  of  that  wonder  of  nature,  the  Rocks  of 
Deer  Creek,  with  their  romantic  contiguities  and 
surroundings.  Could  I  have  said  "  The  Curiosties 
of  Literature,"  the  name  giVen  by  Disraeli  the 
elder  to  that  confessedly  most  curious  collection  of 
literary  gems  which  bears  that  title,  I  should  as- 
suredly be  content,  assuming,  of  course,  that  my 
collection  would  bear  some  proper  relation  in  their 
literary  qualities  to  that  unique  gathering  of  rare 
intellectualities.  No  other  title  could  I  use,  because 
the  literature  I  collect  bears  relation  to  but  one 
thing — the  Rocks  of  Deer  Creek  and  their  surround- 
ings. And  I  am  shut  up  to  the  necessity  of  using 
the  material  I  have,  material  not  created  by  my- 
self, save  one  short  essay,  but  by  others,  and  for  the 
quality  of  which  I  am  in  no  degree  responsible. 

I  am  not  to  be  understood,  however,  as  disparag- 
ing the  efforts  of  the  writers  in  prose  and  in  poetry 
whose  contributions  I  shall  insert  in  this  book.  I 
have  no  doubt  that  many  of  the  readers  of  them 
will  derive  both  pleasure  and  profit  in  their  pe- 
rusal. 

I  make  these  contributions  a  part  of  this  volume, 
because  they  are  a  part  of  the  history,  so  to  speak, 
of  the  Rocks,  and  because  they  show  that  the  Rocks 
are  potent  in  inspiration. 

The  literature  of  the  Rocks  is  abundant — suffi- 
cient, perhaps,  to  make  a  volume  respectable  in 
size.  It  is  in  accordance  with  my  plan  to  limit  my 
collection  to  a  few  selections.  The  first  was  written 
some  years  ago  by  a  girl  of  tender  years,  and  was, 
perhaps,  her  first  effort  in  such  writing. 


THEIR   LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY.  107 


THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK.     . 

"  Nature,  in  her  delineations,  ever  delights  in 
giving  variety  to  the  beauty  and  magnificence  of 
her  creations.  Mountain,  hill,  valley  and  plain 
have  each  their  enchantments,  but  the  Rocks  of 
Deer  Creek,  situated  in  the  upper  section  of  Har- 
ford  County,  present  to  the  lover  of  natural  scenery 
a  combination  of  attractions  that  nature,  in  her  mu- 
nificence, seldom  deigns  to  lavish  on  her  fair  do- 
mains. The  Rocks  are  several  hundred  feet  in 
height,  extending  to  a  point  that  projects  in  solemn 
grandeur  over  huge  masses  of  rock  that  lie  scat- 
tered at  their  base."  Having  described  the  beauty 
of  the  adjacent  landscape,  she  continues  :  "  But  the 
Rocks,  apart  from  the  lovely  landscape  that  spreads 
around  us,  are  ever  the  scene  that  must  enchant  the 
gaze,  and  infuse  into  the  heart  of  nature's  votary  a 
mingled  feeling  of  admiration  and  awe."  She  con- 
cludes :  "  The  image  of  the  scene  is  impressed  upon 
the  soul,  and  in  the  secret  chamber  of  our  being 
often  will  we  view  over  again  the  Rocks  of  Deer 
Creek." 

The  next  selection  is  a  poem,  written  by  a  young 
lady  of  Long  Island,  New  York.  We  give  only  the 
stanzas  which  describe  the  "  King  and  Queen 
Seats:" 

"In  ages  past,  so  runs  a  legend  old, 
These  rocks  were  the  wild  home  of  warriors  bold ; 
Here  they  in  council  met,  and  warfare  planned, 
Talked  o'er  the  mighty  secrets  of  their  dusky  band; 
I  fancy  how  the  echoes  have  rung  out, 
The  noisy  clamor  of  their  war-cry  shout. 
Long  years  have  passed  away,  the  red  man's  tread 


108  THE   ROCKS   OF   DEER   CREEK. 

No  longer  echoes  there ;  the  wild,  fierce  tribe  is  dead, 

And  nought  remains  but  memories  alone, 

And  two  rough  seats  hewn  from  the  solid  stone. 

"These  were  the  lofty  thrones  of  King  and  Queen, 
Spread  now  with  moss  and  trailing  vines  of  green ; 
We  rested  in  their  depths,  and  pictured  rare 
Visions  of  Indian  beauties,  wild  yet  fair ; 
All  still  and  silent  now,  only  the  breeze 
Comes  whispering  soft  sweet  stories  through  the  trees, 
And  echoes  only  waken  to  the  words 
Of  untold  beauty  in  the  songs  of  birds, 
Those  clearest,  bell-like  tones  that  float  and  ring, 
Pronounce  the  mocking  bird  the  woodland  king." 

The  following  was  written  by  a  lady,  a  native  of, 
and  now  resident  in,  Harford  : 

Rocks  of  Deer  Creek,  I,  a  pilgrim, 

Wander  up  thy  mountain  side, 
And  beneath  thy  lofty  summits 

Watch  the  sparkling  waters  glide. 

Here  upon  this  pile  of  ages, 
Where  the  Red  Man's  flight  was  stayed, 

I,  in  contemplation  solemn, 
View  the  mighty  work  displayed. 

Think  of  Him  who,  out  of  chaos, 

Called  this  great  mysterious  world, 
With  its  mountains,  vales  and  waters, 

Like  a  picture  fair  unfurl' d. 

Piled  this  mighty,  rocky  structure, 

Like  some  castle,  grim  and  gray, 
Sublime — mysterious — wrote  upon  it, 

A  monument  without  decay. 

List!  methinks  I  hear  "the  voices 

Of  the  hills"  that  round  me  lie, 
For  one  grand  and  solemn  anthem 

Seemeth  filling  earth  and  sky. 

And  self  is  lost — forgotten  e'en — 

As  I  list  the  soft  refrain; 
Surely  God,  the  builder  of  you, 

Reigns  upon  this  height  supreme. 


THEIR   LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY.  109 

Misty  clouds  are  upward  rising, 

Like  pure  incense,  to  the  sky, 
Peace-offerings  from  the  waters 

On  this  rock-bound  mountain  high. 

Surely  in  this  solemn  grandeur, 

On  this  temple  most  sublime, 
More  ancient  than  the  pyramids 

Of  old,  in  eastern  clime, 

Man  must  see  and  feel  a  power, 

Great — beyond  our  mortal  ken; — 
Rocks  of  Deer  Creek,  veil'd  in  mystery, 

You  must  ever  more  remain. 

MARY  WARNER  Ross. 

Sandy  Hook,  1879. 


That  which  follows  are  the  meditations  of  one 
who  discovers,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Rocks,  a  sin- 
gular fern.  He  is  evidently  in  a  philosophical 
mood,  and  has  been  disturbed,  it  may  be,  by  the 
rash  speculations  of  some  modern  scientists  so- 
called. 

A  REMARKABLE  FERN. 

Strolling  one  day  of  the  past  autumn  along  Deer 
Creek,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Rocks,  I  was  attracted 
by  a  species  of  fern  with  which  I  was  not  familiar. 
Upon  examining  it  minutely,  I  found,  to  my  sur- 
prise, and  I  must  confess  to  my  gratification,  written 
upon  the  stem  and  each  leaf  of  the  fern  the  word 
Biogenesis :  life  from  life,  and  from  nothing  but 
life.  And  recollecting  that  Sir  William  Thomp- 
son, President  of  the  British  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science,  in  an  address  to  the  Soci- 
ety, incidentally  refers  to  the  theory  of  Biogenesis 
and  its  opposite  theory,  Abiogenesis  (spontaneous 
10 


110         THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CHEEK. 

generation),  I  sought  that  address,  and  found  the 
following  statement  therein  : 

"  I  am  ready  to  adopt  as  an  article  of  scientific 
faith,  true  through  all  space  and  through  all  time, 
that  life  proceeds  from  life,  and  from  nothing  hut 
life."  I  am  not  aware  that  Sir  William  had  ever 
seen  a  specimen  of  the  singular  Deer  Creek  fern,  or 
ever  heard  of  it ;  but  one  cannot  fail  to  note  the 
agreement  between  the  teaching  of  the  fern  and  that 
of  the  distinguished  President  of  the  British  Asso- 
ciation. Anxious  to  know  what  that  other  distin- 
guished member  of  the  same  Association,  Professor 
Huxley,  might  have  to  say  upon  Biogenesis  and  its 
antagonistic  theory,  Abiogenesis,  I  turned  to  an  in- 
augural address  delivered  by  him  to  the  British 
Association,  in  which  Professor  Huxley  concedes 
that  "  the  evidence,  direct  and  indirect,  in  favor 
of  Biogenesis  :  life  from  life,  and  from  nothing  but 
life,  for  all  known  forms  of  life,  must  be  admitted  to 
be  of  great  weight/'  This  utterance  of  the  great 
inductive  philosopher  gave  me  great  pleasure,  as  it 
seems  to  confirm  the  suspicion  that  possibly  the 
Creator  of  all  things  wrote  upon  my  fern  the  word 
Biogenesis:  life  from  life,  and  from  nothing  but 
life.  My  satisfaction  with  this  declaration  of  the 
philosopher  would  have  been  complete,  had  he  not 
to  this  just  admission,  as  I  thought  it  to  be,  added  : 
u  But  though  I  cannot  express  this  conviction  of 
mine  too  strongly,  I  must  carefully  guard  myself 
against  the  supposition  that  1  intend  to  suggest  that 
no  such  thing  as  Abiogenesis  (spontaneous  gener- 
ation) has  ever  taken  place  in  the  past,  or  will  take 
place  in  the  future.  If  it  were  given  me  to  look 
beyond  the  abyss  of  geologically  recorded  lime  to 


TIIKIK   LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY.  Ill 

the  still  more  remote  period  when  the  eartli  was 
passing  through  physical  and  chemical  conditions, 
which  it  can  no  inure  sec  again  than  a  man  can  re- 
call his  infancy,  /  should  expect  to  be  a  witness  of  the 
evolution  of  living  protoplasm  from  unliving  matter." 
I  was  now  in  a  quandary.  When  doctors  disagree, 
who  shall  decide?  And  what  estimate  can  I  have 
of  the  veracity  of  my  fern?  Singularly,  the  phil- 
osopher whose  just  quoted  utterance  had  tended  to 
overthrow  my  cherished  theory  of  life,  and  brand  as 
false  the  teaching  of  the  fern,  comes  to  my  relief. 
The  philosopher  does  not  account  for  life  without  a 
metaphysical  cause.  Hear  him  :  "  I,  individually, 
am  no  materialist,  but,  on  the  contrary,  believe 
materialism  to  involve  grave  philosophical  error/' 
His  materialism  is  only  a  trick  of  logic  ;  his  faith 
is  that  all  life  has  a  transcendental,  metaphysical 
cause.  He  vindicates  the  truthfulness  of  my  fern.* 

The  question  is,  where  did  my  fern  get  its  life? 
Who  wrote  upon  its  stem  and  leaves  Biogenesis? 
My  fern  was  sustained  by  inorganic  substances. 
From  such  substances  it  extracted  the  nutriment  of 
its  life  by  a  chemistry  peculiar  to  itself.  But  whence 
its  life?  It  cannot  be  that  life  is  a  phenomenon  ? 
evolved  from  the  forces  of  unliving  matter.  Science 
does  not  say  so.  Matter  is  a  basis  of  life  ;  in  it  life 
manifests  itself,  and  nothing  more.  Life,  like 
matter  in  which  it  dwells,  was  created,  not  evolved 
from  unliving  forces.  The  life  of  my  fern  came 
fro  m  abroad .  Its  cause  was  the  only  cause ,  ultimat  e , 
spontaneous  will.  The  Author  of  all  life  gave  it 
life,  and  wrote  upon  its  leaves  Biogenesis. 

My  fern  is  perishing.  Is  this  not  singular? 
Strange  that  the  living  forces  which  built  it  up 


112         THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 

should  now,  that  its  vitality  is  gone,  tear  down  the 
structure  which  they,  with  so  much  pains,  con- 
structed. The  vital  principle  in  my  fern  did  for  a 
time  hold  in  abeyance  the  physical  forces,  but  this 
having  departed,  its  enemies  triumph.  My  fern  is 
returning  to  unliving  dust.  Whether  it,  Phoenix- 
like,  will  arise  from  its  ashes,  I  do  not  know.  And 
if  its  unliving  dust  should  become  the  basis  of  other 
life,  whether  it  will  be  the  life  of  another  fern,  I  do 
not  know.  Of  this  I  am  confident,  if  it  shall  be 
the  basis  of  another  life,  upon  that  creation,  be  it 
rose  or  magnolia  or  fern,  will  be  written  Biogenesis  : 
life  from  life,  and  from  nothing  but  life. 

If  any  of  my  curious  friends  would  see  a  specimen 
of  the  Deer  Creek  fern,  they  can  do  so  by  searching 
the  hills  between  Preston's  Mill  and  the  Rocks  of 
Deer  Creek. 

THE  OLD  MILL. 

Opposite  Mingo  Hill,  on  the  waters  of  Deer  Creek, 
a  few  miles  above  the  Rocks,  is  a  quaint  old  mill. 
Of  this  ancient  mill  a  poetess  writes  : 

4  'Softly  dim  twilight  lingers 

O'er  the  picturesque  mill, 
Night,  with  her  purple  fingers, 

Is  draping  each  noble  hill 
With  the  shadows  she  loves  to  muster, 

And  waft  in  the  twilight  down, 
Faintly  outlined  with  the  lustre 

"Which  streams  from  his  starry  crown. 
Beautiful  shadows  that  fall  so  still 
And  nestle  down  on  the  silent  mill. 


"Silent,  for  now  the 

Heart  of  the  mill's  at  rest, 
And  only  the  breezes  arc  sobbing 
O'er  the  water's  breast; 


THEIR   LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY.  113 

Its  ripples'  musical  splashing 

Seem  crowning  a  dreamy  song, 
As  o'er  the  high  dam  dashing, 

They  hurry  so  swiftly  along. 
Laughing  waters  that  scorn  to  feel 
The  ponderous  weight  of  the  old  mill  wheel. 

"  We  sit  in  the  night's  dark  splendor 

And  list  to  the  whippoorwill, 
Breathing  in  accents  tender 

Its  moan  o'er  the  night-wrapped  mill, 
And  watch  how  the  shadows  linger 

O'er  the  tree-topped  hill  on  high, 
Till  each  waving  branch  seems  a  finger 

Writing  against  the  sky. 
And  the  spirit  of  night  has  awakened 

The  fairies  that  surely  dwell, 
In  the  quiet  depths  of  the  woodland 

In  some  fair  little  hidden  dell; 
For  the  fire-flies  twinkle  their  lights  afar 
Till  each  fairy  lamp  seems  a  tiny  star. 

"  Brightly  the  summer  dawning 

Gleams  o'er  the  quiet  mill, 
And  scattered  far  by  the  morning 

The  shadows  lift  from  the  hill; 
And  the  sunbeam's  golden  splendor 

Pours  o'er  the  dewy  earth, 
While  the  birdlings'  voices  tender 

Thrill  with  sweetest  mirth. 
A  morning  concert  given  us  free 
Echoing  sweet  the  softest  melody. 

"How  lightly  the  water  dances, 

How  sparkles  its  crystal  breast, 
As  each  arrow  of  sunlight  glances 
.    In  quivering,  gay  unrest, 
And  the  dewy  morning  breathing 

Tenderly  touching  now, 
Silvery  hair  enwreathiug 

An  aged  though  cheerful  brow. 
For  many  years  that  are  gone  and  dead, 
The  mill  has  echoed  his  gentle  tread. 

10* 


114         THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 

"And  long  may  it  echo  the  paces 

Of  the  feet  that  are  walking  toward 
The  golden  gates  of  the  city 

Leading  to  home  and  God. 
Respected  friend,  I  will  carry 

Sweet  memories  as  I  roam 
Of  the  picturesque  mill  in  the  valley, 

And  the  sweetly  embowered  home. 
With  sad  regrets  my  song  will  fill, 
And  a  fond  farewell  to  the  dear  old  mill." 

"JAMAICA,  LONG  ISLAND.'' 


WHAT  immediately  follows  are  the  prophetic  dec- 
larations of  the  resident  of  "Shirley,  near  the 
Hocks,"  who  may  be  indebted,  in  a  measure,  to  the 
scenes  amid  which  he  dwells  for  the  strength  of 
his  patriotic  inspirations  and  impulses.  The  High- 
lands of  Scotland,  the  mountains  of  Wales  and 
Switzerland,  have  ever  been  inhabited  by  peoples  of 
patriotic  sentiments  and  practically  devoted  to  lib- 
erty. The  dwellers  by  the  Kocks  are  not  an  excep- 
tion. The  Eagle,  which  is  the  symbol  of  their 
country's  majesty,  soars  above  the  summits  of  their 
mountains.  They  watch  its  lofty  flights  with  pride, 
and  aspire  to  equal  eminence  in  their  sentiments 
and  aspirations.  The  lowlands  are  generally  the 
places  of  wealth,  and  luxury,  and  enervation,  with 
which  the  sentiments  of  personal  independence  and 
individual  liberty  do  not  usually  co-exist. 

The  prophecy  is  a  portion  of  a  Centennial   Ad- 


Til  KIR   LEGENDS   AND   HISTORY.  115 

dress,  delivered  by  the  author,  July  4th,  1876,  in 
Ward's  Woods,  not  distant  from,  and  in  view  of, 
the  Rocks,  and  is  a  legacy  to  the  young  men  who 
shall  be  living  in  1976  ;  bequeathed  to  them  with 
the  hope  that  they  will  cherish  an  ardent  love  of 
country,  and  maintain  the  principles  of  their 
fathers. 


116         THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 


A    PROPHECY. 


THE  retrospect  we  have  made  very  naturally  sug- 
gests the  prospect.  What  shall  the  future  of  our 
country  be?  Who  shall  forecast  its  destiny  ?  Have 
we,  by  the  marvelous  rapidity  of  our  growth  in  the 
hundred  years  past,  exhausted  our  energies,  and 
brought  upon  ourselves  premature  old  age,  premon- 
itory of  speedy  deatli  ?  Or,  are  we  as  Hercules  in 
his  cradle,  possessed  of  a  vitality  and  force  and  fer- 
tility of  resources  that  shall  be  manifested  in  achieve- 
ments that  will  surpass  all  that  has  been  seen  in 
the  past  of  our  history,  and  surprised  the  world 
with  their  greatness.  We  are  in  the  infancy  of 
our  greatness,  the  beginning  of  a  progress  such  as 
has  not  hitherto  been  seen,  and  of  which  the  most 
sanguine  could  not  possibly  have  dreamed.  Man- 
kind is  standing  on  the  very  threshold  of  a  new  life, 
on  a  boundary  line,  about  to  launch  out  into  an 
unknown  future.  The  past  is  gone,  the  old  land- 
marks are  swept  away,  and  fresh  armies  of 
thoughts,  opinions  and  knowledge  are  breaking  in 
upon  the  world.  The  jungle  has  been  cleared, 
space  has  been  almost  annihilated,  and  the. human 
mind,  free  from  embarrassments  that  have  inter- 
rupted its  progress,  is  entering  upon  a  series  of  es- 
says and  conflicts  that  shall  ultimate  in  achieve- 
ments far  surpassing  those  of  the  past,  and  that 
Khali  carry  humanity  upward  to  higher  planes  rap- 
idly and  majestically.  It  may  be  centuries  before 
tin-  new  life  shall  be  matured.  In  the  very  "lisp- 


THEIR   LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY.  117 

ing  infancy  "  of  the  new  life  humanity  may  be,  but 
the  child  is  born,  and  there  shall  follow  the  vigor 
of  manhood  and  the  ripeness  of  age.  A  sagacious 
thinker  and  observer  has  said  :  "  A  mighty  impulse 
has  come  over  the  world  lately.  A  time  of  looking 
forward  rather  than  back  has  set  in.  Great  inven- 
tions of  all  kinds  are  altering  the  face  of  the  earth, 
making  the  conditions  of  life  different,  and  raising 
the  hopes  and  fears  of  men.  Great  discoveries  are 
bringing  with  them  all  the  eager  wildness,  all  the 
enthusiasm  for  good  or  evil,  that  such  unsettle- 
ments  must  always  bring.  The  vast  ocean  of 
knowledge  has  found  its  Columbuses,  and  hearts 
beat  high  with  the  daily  hope  of  fresh  wonders  be- 
ing unveiled  by  new  voyagers."  Where,  we  ask, 
has  this  impulse  been  felt  stronger  than  on  this 
continent  and  with  us  ?  Where  so  much  of  change, 
of  adventure,  of  achievement?  Where  in  all  the 
earth  so  much  of  enthusiasm,  of  earnest  purpose, 
of  determination  to  do  all  that  lies  within  the  range 
of  possibility  ?  There  are  barriers  that  no  human 
invention  can  overcome ;  conditions  beyond  the 
range  of  mortal  power.  But  within  those  great  bar- 
riers which  God  has  fixed  to  human  progress,  an 
almost  infinite  advance  is  certain.  There  are  men 
of  folly,  as  was  Canute  the  Great,  when  he  sat  by 
the  sea-shore,  and  said  to  the  advancing  waters, 
"  So  far  shalt  thou  come,  and  no  farther,"  who  in 
the  impotency  of  their  reason  may  prescribe  bounds 
to  human  progress,  but  that  progress,  as  did  the 
oncoming  waves,  will  mock  their  folly  and  weak- 
ness. This  continent,  this  nation,  shall  participate 
in  this  general  onward  movement,  and  in  a  degree 
exceeding  all.  The  genius  of  the  American  people, 


118         THE  ROCKS  OF  DEER  CREEK. 

their  inquisitiveness,  their  steadiness  of  purpose, 
their  inflexibility  of  will,  their  inventive  qualities, 
their  love  of  change,  their  ambition  to  excel,  all 
point  to  a  destiny  of  unparalleled  grandeur.  Our 
lofty  mountains,  our  wide  extended  plains,  our  ma- 
jestic rivers,  are  symbolic  of  the  might  and  majesty 
of  our  coining  greatness.  Here,  upon  the  shores  of 
the  Atlantic,  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  and  the 
Missouri,  and  by  the  side  of  the  Pacific,  in  mountain 
place  and  valley,  shall  be  a  teeming  multitude  of 
men  building  up  in  their  strength  a  material,  in- 
tellectual, social,  spiritual  empire,  before  which  all 
other  empires  shall  pale  as  the  glow-wortnv  pales  in 
the  presence  of  the  sun.  It  will  be  the  onward 
movement  of  thought,  and  feeling,  and  faith,  and 
work,  widening  and  deepening,  and  increasing  in 
strength,  until  mighty  in  its  volume  and  resistless 
in  its  force,  it  shall  bear  upon  its  bosom,  as  the 
flood  bears  the  oak,  all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and 
knowledge.  This  is  my  thought — it  may  be  the 
dream  of  an  enthusiast. 

In  one  hundred  years  the  population  of  the 
United  States  of  America  may  exceed  that  of  China  ; 
the  area  of  territory,  if  extended,  may  embrace  the 
whole  of  North  America,  and  our  progress  in  all 
other  respects  be  commensurate.  Then  it  will  be 
that  those  then  living  will  look  back  upon  the  epoch 
of  the  first  Centennial  as  we,  who  celebrate  it  to-day, 
look  back  upon  its  beginning — as  a  day  of  very  small 
things,  and,  as  we  do,  congratulate  themselves  and 
the  country  on  the  progress  made,  differing  from  us 
in  this,  that  their  felicitations  will  be  greater — pro- 
portionate to  their  increased  prosperity.  The  reali- 
zation of  this  hope  will  depend  essentially  upon 


THEIR    LKGHNDS    AND    1IIST011Y.  1  1  (J 

one  thing — that  we  remain  at  peace  among  our- 
selves. This  unity  of  the  nation  is  the  pledge  of  its 
perpetuity,  and  the  assurance  of  its  high  destiny. 
Not,  indeed,  that  unity  which  is  enforced  by  strength 
of  will  and  power  of  bayonet,  but  unity  .of  senti- 
ment and  affection,  that  unity  of  mind  and  heart 
which  has  its  most  striking  illustrations  and  exem- 
plifications in  the  virtuous  household,  each  member 
of  which,  recognizing  the  significancy  of  the  rela- 
tion, performs  its  obligations.  The  hope  is  that 
Christianity,  in  its  onward  inarch,  will  so  leaven 
society  with  its  restraining  and  conserving  influ- 
ences, that  human  passions  will  not  simply  be  held 
in  check,  but  will  be  consecrated  to  virtuous  pur- 
poses, the  human  heart  responding  always  and  un- 
erringly to  truth,  and  the  life  to  noble  aim. 

Our  fathers  sought  to  erect  the  superstructure  of 
American  government  upon  a  substantial  basi^s,  in- 
tending that  in  th#5  ark  of  national  safety  their  de- 
scendants should  be  secure  when  the  tempests  gath- 
ered. The  fabric  of  government  which  they  erected 
was  no  temporary  expedient,"  to  serve  the  wants  of 
a  day  ;  it  was  built,  as  the  pyramids  were  built,  to 
resist  the  wear  of  ages,  and  serve  the  necessities  of 
generations.  Washington,  and  Adams,  and  Jef- 
ferson, and  Madison,  and  Monroe,  and  all  the  illus- 
trious host  of  worthies  who  laid  the  foundations  of 
American  nationality,  were  men  not  only  of  wis- 
dom, but  of  conscience  also,  having  in  view,  not  the 
mere  gratification  of  personal  ambition  and  the  ag- 
grandizement of  self,'  but  the  welfare  of  the  whole 
people  and  of  generations  of  people.  To  establish 
this  government  our  ancestors  toiled,  and  sacri- 
ficed, and  poured  out  their  blood,  not  anticipating 


120  THE   ROCKS   OF   DEER   CREEK. 

that  Catalines  would  ever  be  found  among  their 
descendants,  who  would  conspire  against  the  liber- 
ties of  the  people,  but  hoping  and  believing  that 
they  to  whom  had  been  bequeathed  the  precious 
legacy  of-  American  freedom,  would  cherish  it  as 
vestal  virgins  and  priests  of  Inca  cherished  their 
sacred  fires.  The  gift  has  so  far  been  generally 
appreciated,  and  the  men  of  this  generation  are 
bearing  upon  their  shoulders  the  ark  which  contains 
the  sacred  things  placed  therein  by  the  fathers  of 
the  republic.  They  cherish  it  as  the  ark  of  the 
Lord  was  cherished  in  the  house  of  Obed  Edom. 

It  is  not  within  the  power  of  man  to  foretell  the 
time  when  this  nation,  having  performed  its  allot- 
ted part  in  the  great  drama  of  the  world's  life, 
shall  follow  the  peoples  that  have  preceded  it,  and 
pass  in  mournful  procession  to  the  graves  of  dead 
nationalities.  The  race  that  forms  this  nation  has, 
as  we  have  seen,  been  distinguished  above  all  other 
races  for  its  vitality  and  force,  resisting  thus  far 
that  strong  tendency  to  decay  that  characterized  the 
nations  that  preceded  it.  It  may  follow  in  the 
footsteps  of  the  nations  that  have  gone  before ;  but 
if  true  to  itself,  if  it  fulfills  the  destiny  which  the 
Divine  hand  has  marked  out  for  it,  then  when  its 
cycle  shall  have  been  completed  and  the  record 
made  up,  future  races  will  look  back  upon  its  period 
as  the  brightest  in  human  history.  And  that  re- 
cord, the  brightest  spot  in  human  history,  may  be 
the  roll  of  a  thousand  years. 

Yea,  if  the  period  of  the  existence  of  the  great 
nations  of  antiquity  was  ten  centuries,  ten  times  ten 
centuries  may  be  the  cycle  of  American  history,  the 
time  when  its  record  shall  be  made  up.  The  senti- 


THEIR    LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY.  121 

inent  of  patriotism  existing  in  such  intense  force  in 
the  bosom  of  every  true  American  would  place  no 
limit  to  his  country's  life.  To-day,  moved  thereto 
by  the  enthusiasm  kindled  by  our  recollections  of 
the  past  and  our  faith  in  the  greatness  of  our  coun- 
try's future,  we  all  with  one  accord  exclaim,  Our 
country  ;  may  she  live  forever  ! 

My  fellow-citizens,  we  congratulate  ourselves 
that  we  have  lived  to  celebrate  the  Centennials  In 
honoring  this  day  we  do  justice  to  the  memory  of 
our  fathers  who  bequeathed  to  us  our  heritage — to 
their  intelligence,  their  virtue,  their  bravery,  their 
fortitude,  their  spirit  of  self-sacrifice.  They  have 
gone  to  their  graves,  and  the  worthiest  monuments 
that  we  can  erect  to  perpetuate  their  memories  are 
the  appreciation  of  their  virtues  and  the  imitation 
of  their  examples. 

Fellow-citizens,  we  shall  not  live  to  celebrate 
another  Centennial.  Ere  the  coming  century  of  our 
national  existence  shall  have  closed  we  will  have 
passed  away — been  gathered  to  our  fathers  ;  but  we 
shall  leave  a  heritage  worthy  to  be  preserved  by  our 
posterity,  and  by  them  transmitted  to  the  genera- 
tions following. 


1 1 


1--  THE    ROCKS   OF   DBKR   CREEK. 


MASON  AND  DIXON'S  LINE. 


A  FEW  miles  north  of  the  Rocks  of  Deer  Creek, 
in  latitude  39  degrees,  43  minutes,  26^  seconds,  is 
the  boundary  between  the  States  of  Pennsylvania 
and  Maryland.  This  line  was  begun  in  December^ 
1763,  and  concluded  in  the  end  of  the  year  1767. 
Its  whole  length  is  244  miles,  not  all  of  which  was 
laid  out  by  the  scientific  gentlemen  after  whom  it  is 
called.  They  were  prevented  by  fears  of  hostile 
Indians  from  proceeding  further  than  Sideling  Hill, 
a  distance  of  116  miles  from  the  place  of  beginning. 
At  the  termination  of  every  fifth  mile  is  planted  a 
large  stone,  having  on  one  side  the  coat  of  arms  of 
William  Penn,  and  on  the  other  or  southern  side, 
the  Escutcheon  of  Lord  Baltimore,  the  proprietaries 
respectively  of  the  provinces  of  Maryland  and  Penn- 
sylvania. Every  mile  is  a  smaller  stone  with  the 
letter  P  on  one  side  and  M  on  the  other.  All  these 
stones  were  brought  from  England.  This  line  was 
fixed  after  eighty  years  of  constant  discussion,  and 
thus  was  lost  to  Maryland  much  fertile  territory. 
It  was  not  surveyed  in  the  ordinary  mode,  but  estab- 
lished by  mathematical  and  astronomical  calcula- 
tion. A  survey  was  had  in  1844,  and  the  original 
line  was  found  to  be  substantially  correct. 


THEIR   LEGENDS   AND    HISTORY.  123 


A  LITP:RARY  CURIOSITY. 


IN  the  year  1661,  the  Rev.  John  Eliot,  "  the 
Apostle  to  the  Indians,"  translated  the  Virginian 
Bihle  into  the  language  of  the  New  England  In- 
dians. The  following  specimen  exhibits  the  Lord's 
Prayer  (Matt,  vi :  9-13)  : 

9.  Yowutche    yeu    nuppenantarnook:    Nooshun 
kesukqut  quttianatamunach  knowesuonk. 

10.  Peaumooutch   kukketassootamdonk,  kutten- 
autamoouk  nennach  ohkeit  neane  kesukqut. 

11.  Nummeetsuonqash   asekesukokish   assamaii- 
uean  yeuyea  kesuked. 

12.  Kah  ahquontamaiinean  nummatchseonqash, 
neane     niatcheneukgueagig     nutahquontamounna- 
nog. 

13.  Ahque   sagkompagunaiinnean  en  qutchhua- 
onganit,  webepohquohwussinean   wutch  matchitut. 
Newutche  kutahtaun  ketassootarnoonk,  kah  raenuh- 
kesuonk,  kali  sohsumoorik  micheme.     Amen. 


